When it comes to cracking down on highway speeding, some small north St. Louis County cities hope there is strength in numbers.

Eight communities along Interstate 70 are prepared to turn that stretch of highway into what they're calling an "accident-reduction corridor." The goal, officials say, is to make highways safer by coordinating speeding patrols and imposing stiffer fines.

But some law enforcement leaders say the effort is just setting the stage to introduce speed cameras and bump up revenue.

One of the critics, St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch, pointed out that a meeting of the I-70 group at the Airport Marriott Hotel several weeks ago was held in a room rented by B&W Sensors, a local speed camera vendor.

"What does that tell you?" said Fitch. "This is about cameras and it's about revenue."

St. Ann Police Chief Robert Schrader, who led the formation of the I-70 group, said there are no current plans to use cameras — but he wouldn't rule out their use in the future.

Schrader acknowledged that B&W Sensors paid for a meeting room, but he said it was at his request after plans to hold the meeting at the University of Missouri-St. Louis fell through.

Schrader insisted the effort is not about cameras but about getting motorists to slow down along a seven-mile stretch of highway between his town and the St. Louis city limit.

From 2007 to 2009, the number of accidents in St. Ann's three-quarter-mile stretch of I-70 rose from 188 to 384, said Schrader. But part of the increase, he acknowledged, was due to the two-year closure of Highway 40. I-70 served as an alternate route for displaced Highway 40 drivers.

"I think speed is a major factor in these accidents," Schrader said. "We are going to try to slow these vehicles down."

Speed cameras are similar to red-light cameras. They take pictures of the license plates on speeding vehicles, and tickets are mailed to the homes of the vehicle owners.

While 12 states permit the use of photo enforcement, their use on St. Louis area highways has gotten off to a rocky start. The small town of Charlack, which has a quarter-mile stretch of Interstate 170, in March announced its intent to use a camera on the highway but backed off after a firestorm of criticism.

The city said at the time that it wanted to wait while the Missouri Legislature considered bills to restrict the use of speed cameras. None of the bills was passed during the most recent session.

Charlack Police Chief Tony Umbertino, who is also the city administrator, said Charlack now is looking into the safety corridor concept with surrounding communities on I-170, much like the I-70 group.

Schrader, the St. Ann chief, will announce the creation of the I-70 group at a news conference today.

The plan calls for officers from eight participating cities to patrol the highway in a more coordinated fashion, he said, using radar and laser technology to nab speeders and issue tickets. Signs will be posted to identify the corridor.

Traffic fines would be uniform among participating courts, he said. And drivers should expect higher fines. Schrader said someone traveling 11 to 15 mph over the speed limit, for instance, would receive a $200 ticket.

St. Ann was the first area city to use a camera to enforce speed laws. It has a camera on Ashby Road near Hoech Middle School, where the daytime speed limit is 20 mph. Schrader said the camera has led to an 80 percent drop in speeding through that stretch.

Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall said he, too, is concerned about highway safety, which is why his city is participating in the accident-reduction corridor. McCall said he considers cameras a separate issue.

"Speed and inattention are major issues," McCall said. "I think the focus of it, honestly, is to saturate the area and deter, to slow people down."

Berkeley also would be interested in joining an I-170 group, McCall said.

Clayton Police Chief Tom Byrne, whose city has a short stretch along I-170, said he will not be involved in such a group because it "has all to do with speed cameras."

Byrne said he had been contacted by B&W, asking him to attend a meeting on the idea, but he declined to go. Byrne said speed cameras are not the right tool to enforce speed laws.

B&W referred questions from the Post-Dispatch to the cities participating in the accident reduction corridors. Beyond that, the company had no comment, the spokesman said.

Fitch, the county police chief, says cameras could have a place on highways, but only if there's a history of speed-related accidents and data to support their use.

Even then, it should be left to the state to control their use and revenue, not municipalities, Fitch said.

"If you can kill the revenue portion of this, these cities will no longer be interested in speed-enforcement cameras," Fitch said. "That's the bottom line."

The plans by local cities to crack down on speeding are unrelated to a state effort announced this week to more aggressively patrol Interstate 270 this summer and reduce speeding on that highway.