The Metropolitan Police Department has installed a half dozen additional stationary speeding cameras in the past year, yet the District’s radar cameras are nabbing fewer lead-footed drivers, according to police statistics.
More than 2.5 million vehicles were monitored in May by the city’s fleet of radar cameras, and 2.3 percent, or 59,609, were detected driving fast enough to be cited. Of those, 33,299 were mailed notices of violations, generating $2.7 million in fines — more than $500,000 less than the previous two months.
In May 2004, at least a half dozen fewer cameras resulted in 37,279 tickets. In May 2005, more than 48,000 drivers were nailed by technology.
“This level of consistent speeding enforcement has been achieved without taking officers from other community policing assignments or otherwise diminishing public safety services in D.C.’s neighborhoods,” according to the police department’s weekly newsletter.
The District now has a fleet of 10 stationary cameras and 12 mobile cameras to monitor dozens of zones throughout the city. On streets with a 30 mph speed limit, police say, the average speed of vehicles monitored by photo radar has dropped to 27.7 mph, down from 37.6 in July 2001. In 45 mph zones, the average speed has fallen to 40.8 mph.
Since launching the program in August 2001, the District has mailed 1.9 million notices of infraction and collected $109 million in fines.
The cameras are not without their critics. John Townsend, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman, said photo radar has given the police an excuse to pull officers off traffic enforcement dutiesand has limited engineering studies into the nature of speeding — whether speed limits are too low. Also, Townsend said, the cameras are distributed so that they catch more Prince George’s County residents.
“They’ve already justified their existence in terms of revenue,” Townsend said. “And they’ve justified their existence in terms of changing people’s behavior. You have to wonder who the knuckle heads are who keep getting the tickets.”
