MISHAWAKA — It's the local traffic hot spot, and something new is watching cars there.

We're talking about Main Street and Grape Road.

One viewer had a Good Question: "What's up with all the traffic cameras being installed around Mishawaka and South Bend?"

WSBT's Kirk Mason looked into it.

At the intersection of South Bend Avenue and Edison Road there is a camera. These types of cameras are up at several intersections around South Bend. They are not to catch speeders — they are actually used for traffic flow. The cameras sense when cars are coming in order to trigger light changes.

Mishawaka has similar cameras at lights along Grape and Main. Traffic manager Todd Scheets says they don't tape anything and they are not catching speeders.

Mishawaka also has something at these lights that looks like a light bulb. When an emergency vehicle is coming, the light goes on. The idea is to give that ambulance, police car or fire truck a green light.

The device is designed to save time in a potentially life saving situation, and hopefully prevent accidents.

South Bend doesn't have the cameras with sensors that change lights for emergency vehicles. A city engineer told WSBT they are expensive, and they fear someone could hack into them and change lights.