Prince George’s County residents and driver advocates on Tuesday objected to officials’ plans to install speed cameras throughout the county, saying the move is simply an effort to boost county coffers. County officials have proposed more than 100 sites near schools to deploy mobile speed cameras, a program supported by County Executive Rushern Baker.
Residents as well as officials from auto club AAA Mid-Atlantic expressed doubts that speed cameras being used by some county municipalities were there to reduce speeding as opposed to boosting revenue.
Once fully established, the county’s program could generate as much as $7.5 million in revenue, funds that must be assigned to the public safety budget.
John Townsend, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said proper oversight was needed to ensure mistakes made in the operation of speed cameras in some county towns wouldn’t be replicated by the county itself.
“It appears that in a number of cases the mobile speed camera program in some jurisdictions in the county violates the spirit and the letter of the law in Maryland,” Townsend said.
Resident Richard Lediew was more direct in his criticism, arguing that he had been ticketed for speeding three times in College Park since January when he was driving well below the posted speed limit.
“They’re not accurate, and I object to the procedures used by the county and the state,” Lediew said. “It’s nothing but extortion.”
County Councilman Obie Patterson, who said he heard several complaints in his district about two speed cameras in Fort Washington, echoed the need for accountability.
“With that many concerns, it starts to concern me,” Patterson said. “We don’t need to have any type of apparatus out there entrapping folks for no just cause.”
Law enforcement officers from Hyattsville, Seat Pleasant and Fort Washington — municipalities where speed cameras are already in use — said the devices were accurate.
Maj. Robert Liberati of the Prince George’s County Police Department said officers who conducted tests of Optotraffic speed-monitoring equipment were satisfied with its accuracy.
Speed cameras at Seat Pleasant Elementary School reduced the number of violations by as much as 76 percent over 12 weeks, according to statistics produced by Optotraffic.
“These units have significantly decreased our speeding epidemic,” said Officer John O’Connor of the Seat Pleasant Police Department.
Polls by AAA Mid-Atlantic found that 74 percent of drivers in Maryland support speed cameras in residential neighborhoods and school zones.
