New Traffic Camera (D.C.) Nabs 788 Speeders in 2 Days

[matcom]

<snip>

The District's newest photo-radar camera in Northeast caught 788 speeding drivers in the first 48 hours of enforcement, generating at least $23,640 in fines, police said yesterday.

The camera on Sunday caught 504 cars speeding in the 600 block of Florida Avenue, where the speed limit is 25 mph. On Monday, it caught 284 cars traveling above the speed limit, police said.

"All we want it to do is detect those people who are speeding aggressively," said Kevin P. Morison, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department. "We hope it will result in lower speeds."

Mr. Morison said speeders made up 17.9 percent of the 2,900 vehicles passing through on Sunday. He said the highest recorded speed was 73 mph.

Speeding drivers made up 13 percent of the 2,200 motorists in the area Monday, he said. The highest recorded speed that day was 58 mph.

http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20040330-100524-5559r.htm

[mmm]

1. Flow of traffic should dictate acceptable speed to some degree

If ALL the cars around you are going 35 and you are going
26, you are presenting a hazard. Tickets should only
be given out by cops who are actually on the scene.

[Bertha Venation]

2. DC mayor wants to charge VA & MD drivers MORE for their tix

than DC residents are charged when they're caught in DC by those cameras.

The DC mayor is an asshole. But that's JMHO.

Not really on topic but this news made me think of it.

[mobuto]

3. Still the same neighborhoods

Its funny that none of these cameras are located on thoroughfares in predominately white residential neighborhoods. You won't see one on MacArthur or upper Connecticut anytime soon. Somebody with clout might complain.

Last year I racked up six $100 fines from one of those damn things before I realized it was there - it takes over a month for them to send you the bill. Now I could afford it, but the camera I kept on hitting was located near a very poor section of Northeast DC. And I know that for a lot of people, $600 is a hell of a lot of money. Its regressive bullshit.

[supernova]

4. Got that right, FL Avenue

is prime red light territory.

I'll be impressed when they catch that many speeders through Great Falls.

[blueraven95]

6. apparently most judges are throwing these tickets out...

There are too many legal problems with these cameras for judges to uphold the tickets. The cameras often malfunction, taking pictures of cars who have not violated any rule or making duplicates of pictures and changing the time so a driver is hit more than once for the same infraction. Also, it is extremely easy to fake one of these photos. Anyone with Photoshop can do it. The tickets are higher, because part of the ticket amount goes to the company which owns the camera (so they have added incentive to fudge the images -- whether they actually are or not is immaterial, it is just suspicious). And, as if all of this wasn't enough, many states say that a driver has to be ticketed, not a car. The picture only shows a car, not the person driving it. Many cars are driven by more than one person. It seems to me that many governments issue these tickets hoping that noone will bother to fight them, and most of the time people don't.

[MountainLaurel]

7. Actually, there is one on MacArthur

I know this because I got a ticket in the mail this summer for doing 42 in a 35 zone, or something along those lines.

Ironically, I was trying to get to the Howard Dean Sleepless Summer kickoff in Falls Church.

[mobuto]

8. Nevermind

So much for that theory...

I still say its regressive taxation.

[gold_bug]

5. wow- does Martin Marietta get a cut?

A co-worker told me the system was designed by Martin Marietta, and they get a percentage of the $ tickets. I'm not sure if it's true but the person insisted it was.