Local officials insist that the proliferation of red-light and speed cameras in the Washington region has really been about public safety. But if this is so, where is the raw data documenting before-and-after crash statistics at intersections and along highways where they have been deployed? The Washington Examiner asked officials in D.C. and Montgomery County for this information via Freedom of Information Act requests eight months ago. We’re still waiting.
Even though they have yet to prove that traffic cameras actually do result in fewer accidents, injuries and deaths, these same officials are busy expanding the cameras’ reach. It’s no coincidence that smaller, more mobile cameras hidden in shrubbery or designed to look like utility boxes appeared on the scene just as new smartphone apps were helping Washington-area drivers avoid hundreds of fixed-location cameras.
A WTOP Beltway Poll in May found 64 percent of local drivers believe the cameras’ real purpose is to raise revenue. It stands to reason that if safety were indeed their primary goal, local authorities would welcome the use of technology that prompts drivers to slow down at key trouble spots.
D.C. collected $55 million last year and expects to raise $85 million this year by expanding its camera-based traffic enforcement. Montgomery County hauled in $12 million and is doubling the number of mobile cameras. Prince George’s County expects revenue from its months-old program to surge from $8 million to $28 million. More and more photo-ticketed speeders are being nabbed even as worsening congestion makes it a challenge to drive at the posted speed limit during rush hour.
And since local governments have quickly become dependent on traffic camera revenue, automated traffic enforcement poses still other dangers. Fox 5 first reported that Riverdale Park Police Cpl. Clay Alford was suspended from the force earlier this month. His offense? He sued his city, alleging that his name and signature had been illegally forged by the town’s civilian employees on thousands of speed-camera citations while he was on leave. The $1.8 million that Riverdale Park collected from speed-camera fines last year represents a third of the town’s annual budget.
Twenty-two-year D.C. police veteran David Cephas admitted in court that he deliberately falsified his certifications that mobile photo radar equipment had been properly calibrated.
This kind of corruption will continue as long as local officials’ top priority is to milk the camera cash cow.
