Speed Cameras Prove Effective in College Park
$564,270 worth of citations were mailed in roughly seven weeks of operation, according to report.
College Park’s speed cameras had cranked out 14,118 citations as of Jan. 5, according to a report prepared for the city by Optotraffic, the company that installed and operates the cameras.
At $40 a pop, that’s $564,270 worth of tickets mailed in the first seven and a half weeks that the cameras were fully operational.
The cameras, which were activated in mid-November, snap photos of vehicles traveling more than 12 miles over the posted speed limit and send a citation to the vehicle’s registered address.
A vast majority of the tickets appear to be going to drivers who live outside of College Park. Roughly 89 percent of the tickets were mailed to addresses outside the city’s two main ZIP codes, 20740 and 20742.
Optotraffic, a division of Lanham-based Sigma Space Corporation, keeps roughly 40 percent of the revenue from the cameras while College Park keeps the rest, as long as the city's tally doesn’t exceed 10 percent of its annual budget. According to The Gazette, the cameras would have to issue 54,000 tickets to exceed that number.
The report also touts speed reductions over the first seven weeks at two of the three camera locations. The median speed clocked by the camera on Metzerott Road near St. Andrews Place fell four mph while speeds captured on Rhode Island Avenue fell two mph.
District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn said the speed reductions show that the speed cameras are working as intended.
"We did this basically at no cost to the city,” Wojahn said. “It seems to me that the speed cameras are a very useful and efficient tool."
Tom Moran of Greenbelt is one motorist who’s none too happy about the cameras cropping up in the area. Moran says he got two tickets from the town of Brentwood’s camera on Rhode Island Avenue near the border with Mt. Ranier. Moran echoed a complaint voiced by some College Park residents, saying drivers don’t have enough time to changes in the speed limit before entering camera zones.
“They basically are trying to speed trap you there,” Moran said. “It’s just a moneymaker for the town. It’s a scam.”
While the initial stats in the Optotraffic report suggest that the cameras are having the desired effect of slowing traffic down, it’s unclear how often city officials will review the data to get a better idea of how the cameras are working.
Mario Bohorquez, the chief commercial officer at Optotraffic, said the company only provides reports at the city’s request, and that there’s no “formal system” or regular reporting schedule in place.
Wojahn said he doesn't see a problem with the speed camera data being kept by Optotraffic and provided to the city on an ad-hoc basis.
“They have easiest access to the information,” he said. “I think the city should continue to ask for [the reports] on a regular basis.”
FreeCollegePark
1:53 am on Wednesday, February 2, 2011
In response to .....
“They basically are trying to speed trap you there,” Moran said. “It’s just a moneymaker for the town. It’s a scam.”
To prevent this view, can anyone explain why the cameras are:
> positioned often at the bottom of hills
> re-positioned when they don't get enough speeders
> operated 24/7
Other questions are:
> where to find the data that identifies why the specific camera locations were selected
> how much the city paid / is paying for these ('basically free")
> why the speed limit on Metzerott Road is being lowered (but the cameras are working?)
Skippy
5:19 pm on Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I will avoid College Park altogether. Businesses in other jurisdictions will welcome my money without entrapment by revenue generating speed cameras.
Deanna, how does a speed camera prevent someone from being rear-ended? It doesn't. All it does is generate $40 for the City. They serve no public safety function unless there is major signage indicating the cameras exist.
Skippy
5:14 pm on Thursday, February 10, 2011
Speed cameras don't make people slow down and won't prevent you from getting hit, they only generate revenues for the city. If they are accompanied by big orange signs that warn of the speed camera THEN they might act as a public safety function. Placing a speed camera on southbound Route 1 before University Blvd. is inane and serves no practical function.
Be fair and true
12:10 pm on Friday, February 11, 2011
If the cameras were strategically placed prior to the concerned areas, then it would be a deterrent. However, currently there is a single unit placed at the Paintbranch Parkway/Hiker-Biker trail for both Eastbound and Westbound traveling lanes. This single unit records vehicles traveling Eastbound prior to the crosswalk, which could deter speeding through the area of concern.
It also records vehicles traveling Westbound ( approx. 75 ft AFTER the crosswalk.) What goods does the Westbound Camera do in deterring speeding through the crosswalk area if you are ticketing vehicles that have already driven through the area of concern. It does nothing other then produce money for College Park.
Speed cameras do have their place and are useful in deterring speeding as long as they are setup and used for the safety of the area (all traveling lanes) in which they are placed. If just one camera being used isn't setup for the safety, then the City of College Park should be ashamed of itself in the way it tries to disguise the true use of these cameras.