Montgomery County’s speed cameras, the bane of the suburban speeder, have played an important role in cutting the number of traffic fatalities in half this year, police said Tuesday.
But the cameras also raise the ire of many county residents, who feel that the fines from the cameras violate their rights to due process and feel that Montgomery County uses the cameras as a “cash cow.”
The county has had nine traffic fatalities so far this year, compared with 19 during the same period last year, and 18 in 2007, when the county first started using speed cameras, according to Capt. John Damskey.
The county’s 60 speed cameras are having a “long-lasting, profound effect on our roadways,” Damskey said.
Those statistics didn’t mollify some residents opposed to the cameras.
“They violate the tenets of good government,” said Ashton resident Alyce Ortuzar, adding that the money generated by the cameras was “coming out of the pockets of our local businesses.” A petition to stop the spread of speed cameras statewide garnered 16,000 signatures, its organizers said, but fell short of getting enough to force a state referendum.
At a public hearing on funding for speed cameras Tuesday, Montgomery County Council members indicated their strong support for the cameras and said the county needed to do a better job of explaining how speed cameras were making the county safer.
“It’s becoming a big issue,” said Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large.
Damskey said a 2008 study of 11 camera locations showed a 25 percent reduction in crashes on roadways where there were speed cameras.
The county recently doubled the number of fixed-place cameras and also operates six mobile speed camera units. Tickets from the cameras cost $40, with $16.25 of each ticket going to the private contractor who owns the cameras.
The county expects to bring in $29 million the next fiscal year, $15.8 million of which would be net gains the county plans to spend on public safety initiatives.
Damskey also answered questions from the council about the placement of speed cameras, and said the police department was trying to put cameras in spots that would have the most influence on public safety, not because they’ll generate the most income for the county.
