Complaints about speeding drivers are among the most common that Mayor Michael Sofranko hears from the residents in Jim Thorpe Borough.

Local police do enforce the speed limit, but they lack a tool used regularly by officers in every other state in the country, as well as state troopers - radar guns.

“It would definitely act as a deterrent if we could slow cars down by the use of radar,” Sofranko said.

Mayors and police in Carbon County, and statewide, have long pushed to have the ability to enforce the speed limit. Recently, mayors and police chiefs have made a new push to get Harrisburg to pass a bill which has been stuck in committee for over a year.

A rally last month on the steps of the Capitol aimed to get members of the public to contact legislators and get them to bring House Bill 606 up for a full vote.

During the rally, members of the Pennsylvania Radar Coalition said that action is needed to protect the safety of the public in areas which are served by local police.

“Speed is a factor in the livability and quality of life of our communities, and our representatives are failing to take action,” said Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace, president of the Pennsylvania Municipal League.

House Bill 606 passed the House Transportation Committee last March, but has been stuck in the House Appropriations Committee ever since. Another bill authored by state Sen. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe/Northampton, has also failed to gain traction in the house.

When his bill passed the Senate last June, Scavello said his district has seen 15 pedestrian deaths in 20 years where a vehicle’s speed was a factor.

“Just one is too many. This legislation will save lives,” he said.

Supporters of giving radar to local police cite Pennsylvania’s high percentage of speeding-related crashes compared to other states. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the state’s 441 speeding-related traffic fatalities in 2019 made it the fourth highest in the country. Forty-two percent of the state’s traffic fatalities were speeding-related - this sixth highest percentage in the country.

Without radar, local police use dated methods like a non-radar electronic device which is becoming harder to get. Many time drivers with a stopwatch as they pass over lines painted on the street. Since they need an open stretch of road where they can get a good view of passing cars, they are limited in where they can do it.

“You can’t properly or effectively enforce the speed,” Sofranko said.

Critics have said that municipalities would use radar guns as a way to generate funds through tickets and fines.

Tom McCarey, of the National Motorists Association, is a vocal opponent of radar for local police. He says that the number of fatalities caused by speeding has actually decreased in recent years.

“Radar guns will only raise money, they will not improve highway safety,” McCarey wrote in a recent letter to the editor opposing House Bill 606.

House Bill 606 and Scavello’s bill both limit the amount of money a municipality could take in from speeding tickets to 10% of its annual budget.

The mayor’s association says that tickets don’t make local municipalities much money as it is, because much of the fine goes to the state.

“We’re not looking to make money. We’re just looking for ways to slow cars down,” Sofranko said.