Members of the Barrington Town Council moved one step closer to approving the installation speed cameras during a special meeting on Tuesday night, June 10.

Councilors voted unanimously to request the town manager to issue “a request for qualifications and proposals for the services of a vendor for speed camera installations within school zones…” 

The motion followed two and a half hours of discussion, which included testimony from more than a dozen people. The majority of speakers opposed the use of speed cameras in town, citing a variety of reasons. One resident said he did not want a private company to make money off Barrington residents’ speeding tickets. Another resident, John Taylor, suggested the town take other measures before installing speed cameras. Anthony Bucci urged people to re-read the George Orwell classic, 1984, adding that speed cameras is a move closer to creating a police state. 

Joe Merrill said he would keep his comments brief, as it was obvious that council members had already come to a decision about speed cameras before the meeting had started. Merrill asked why the town had taken such a long time to address speeding on local roads and why there is such a sense of urgency now.

Some residents said the cameras would make the town safer, and pushed back on the concerns about data privacy issues surrounding license plate readers. Two members of the Barrington Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee said they supported the installation of speed cameras. 

Riverside resident Camille Field, who works as the crossing guard in front of Sowams School, spoke in favor of the speed cameras. She said the cars “are just flying” down Sowams Road and “they don’t care.” 

After all the testimony, members of the council shared their thoughts. They said their motivation was to improve safety on local roads and not find a new source for revenue. They said there were challenges to implementing other traffic slowing measures. 

Kerry O’Neill and Kate Berard voiced their support for moving forward with the speed cameras. Liana Cassar said the council was trying to locate the fastest way to reach a solution to the speeding issue.

Barrington Town Council President Braxton Cloutier said the council had not made a decision on whether to install speed cameras, but wanted more information — details about data privacy, due process, revenue sharing and more. Councilors said the RFQ would supply that information to the council. Cloutier also said he plans to allow residents to question the speed camera vendors. He said he did not want people thinking the council was going to “ram something through.” 

The council then voted 5-0 to issue the RFQs and RFPs.

In addition, the council voted to request the state to lower the speed limit for most of County Road from 35 miles per hour to 25 mph. 

The change, if approved by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, would impact County Road from the merge with the Wampanoag Trail (where the road goes from four lanes to two) south to the intersection with Maple Avenue. 

Also, the council voted unanimously to request RIDOT to declare County Road in front of Barrington High School as a school zone, which would drop the speed limit to 20 mph along that stretch.