20-03-2025
Speed enforcement radar could be coming to local police departments
EBENSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — New legislation will soon be introduced in Harrisburg to expand which police agencies can use radar devices.
Similar legislation introduced in the past failed to make it out of the appropriations committee but now local police are saying it may be time to move forward with making that technology more accessible.
'The most common causes of crashes are speed impaired driving and distracted driving. Pennsylvania has some of the most robust DUI laws in the country. They address both alcohol impaired driving and drug impaired driving. As for distracted driving, the legislature recently enacted Paul Miller's Law which, if you're familiar, gives law enforcement the ability to conduct enforcement activities when they see motorists with cell phones or other handheld mobile devices,' Ebensburg Police Department Chief Joe Loughran said.
Many local police departments feel state laws have not addressed speed enforcement as much as they should.
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In an effort to cut down on speeding, police in Ebensburg gauge speed based off the time it takes for a car to move between two marks on the road. But according to police, it's an imperfect system, especially in areas of high congestion.
'When you came in on High Street here, you see how tight it is with vehicles parked on both sides of the roadway,' Loughran said. 'To address that from a speed enforcement standpoint, like we do now using stopwatches, it severely limits us and how much speed enforcement we can do.'
A proposed new law could soon allow local police officers to use radar devices, making it easier for them to pull over unsafe drivers. It's a law police forces wanted to change for a while as Pennsylvania is the only state that bars local officers from using the technology.
'Radar would give us the ability to adapt and address those concerns more accurately and efficiently in the interest of public safety,' Loughran said.
State Representative Jill Cooper (R-55th District) plans to introduce the legislation soon. She said current enforcement measures don't do enough to deter drivers from speeding.
'The statistics show 50% of fatal car crashes involve speeding,' Rep. Cooper said. 'People are like 'Can't they come and patrol an area?' I mean we have so many issues on speeding. We've changed. We've lowered speed limit signs in areas.'
She said the use of radar could keep both drivers and police accountable.
'A lot of my police departments want an accurate way to record whether or not someone's speeding,' Rep. Cooper said.
Pennsylvania State Police can use radar devices for speed enforcement and agree it's the most accurate way to make sure people being ticketed were actually going over the speed limit.
'Using the radar equipment takes any sort of human error out of it. That's all electronic. We have testing yearly as well as internal testing and each shift testing that we check on is radar units to make sure that they're working properly,' said Trooper Jacob Rhymestine, Public Information Officer for Pennsylvania State Police Troop G.
The radar unit can malfunction, but police already using the system are trained to check the device at the end of each shift as well and will throw out citations issued if the device is found to not be in working order.
There's been concerns by communities that police will use radar to increase revenue generated from citations, but Rep. Cooper said the update to the law will still strictly prevent such situations by limiting the amount of revenue a local municipality can collect from speeding tickets to 1% a year.
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