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Thursday, January 18, 2018

Do Speed Cameras Get Drivers to Slow Down or Just Generate Revenue?

(Click on the image for  Cori Coffin's Fox5 report)
  • The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) has sent drivers 74,964 citations since it implemented a speed camera in a construction zone on Interstate 95/Interstate 495 in Prince George’s County. At $40 per ticket, that comes to a total of $3,073,524 in fines.
  • Drivers have to go 12 miles over that to get a ticket or 67 miles per hour.
  • “The inherent danger is killing construction workers in work zones,” explained John Townsend with AAA Mid-Atlantic. “The other inherent danger is in the state of Maryland last year, the majority of persons -- six people were killed in work zones -- most of those were drivers and not construction workers.”
  • But looking at the big picture, the number of citations is relatively small compared to how much traffic flows through that area daily (about 200,000 vehicles). That comes to 36 million cars in six months. With nearly 75,000 receiving tickets, that is a rate of .21 percent of drivers.
  • And according to SHA, once these work zone cameras are implemented, they reduce speeding by 90 percent. Currently, Maryland has work zone cameras in nine other areas across the state. Since the program’s implementation in 2010, it has brought in $115 million in revenue from speedy drivers.