Traffic Safety Coalition

May 6, 2013

Toledo Blade

Kudos to Toledo Mayor Mike Bell for opposing a proposed law in Columbus that could end our red-light and speed cameras (“Bill could ban red-light cameras; Toledo mayor testifies in Columbus that devices save lives,” April 24).

The mayor should know, because he is a former fire chief who has been at the scene of fatal accidents and injuries caused by speeding and disregard of red lights. He dismissed the claims of those proposing the bill, putting safety first over legislators who say the cameras are unconstitutional.

Toledo Police Lt. Jeffery Sulewski said in your article that speed violations dropped significantly after installation of cameras on the Anthony Wayne Trail. Isn’t this reason enough to keep the cameras?

So what if the city is making money from the citations? It’s a double plus for the city.

GERARD JACOBS

Fairhaven Drive

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Letters-to-the-Editor/2013/05/06/Mayor-Mike-Bell-s-right-to-fight-ban-on-cameras.html#gtO3T0rWcVbxcKEI.99

May 2, 2013

The Home Reporter

Enough is enough!

The death of an elderly woman on Fourth Avenue at 82^nd Street – struck on Tuesday morning by a turning car as she crossed in the crosswalk with the light – brings to three the number of people critically injured or killed while attempting to traverse the thoroughfare in Bay Ridge since February.

This most recent incident follows closely the death of a woman struck by a car at 86^th and Fourth earlier in April, and the severe injuries sustained by Xaverian student Matthew Garry when he was knocked down by a hit-and-run vehicle at Fourth and 78^th in mid-February.

It’s clear that there is a pressing need for changes along the strip, which many residents – who daily dodge cars driven by reckless drivers — believe to be extremely dangerous.

It’s time to try something different. While not everyone agrees that the technology employed by speed cameras is ready for prime time, we agree with local safety advocates, the City Council and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly that they are worth trying.

If they work, great – lives will potentially be saved as traffic is slowed. If they don’t, all that’s lost is the money that was spent in trying them out.

In addition, we believe that enforcement along the strip – where drivers regularly go in excess of the speed limit, make illegal U-turns, or zip in and out of traffic lanes – is called for.

To accomplish that without taking cops away from other critical duties — given the leanness of today’s police force, with precincts around the city, including the 68^th Precinct in Bay Ridge, operating with far fewer officers than a decade ago — the city needs to loosen the purse strings, and hire more officers before more people die simply because they crossed the street.

Read more: http://www.homereporternews.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-time-for-action/article_1b730a72-b349-11e2-a918-001a4bcf887a.html

April 30, 2013

April 29, 2013

By Andy Brownfield

The Washington Examiner

Montgomery County is on track to issue fewer tickets from its red light and speed cameras this fiscal year than last year, but still has brought in $13 million from them so far this year.

About 291,000 tickets were issued from speed cameras and 25,000 from red light cameras since the start of the fiscal year in July through the end of February, according to data given to the County Council’s Public Safety Committee on Monday.

That’s almost 40,000 fewer speed camera tickets than were issued the previous fiscal year, but almost 3,000 more red light camera tickets.

Public Safety Committee Chairman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, said fewer tickets being issued shows that the cameras are working.

“Our goal is to change behavior,” Andrews said. “Usually within a few weeks there is a drop in the number of citations issued as people become aware that there’s a camera there. That’s good, that’s what we want.”

AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman Lon Anderson said it’s a good thing that the number of tickets is going down.

“That would appear to be more in keeping with what we hope would happen, if you put a system like this in and you inform people and they learn where the cameras are and they slow down and behave differently in intersections, as a result the number of violators would go down,” Anderson said, noting that Montgomery County’s program is managed better than the District’s, where ticket numbers continue to climb.

However, only about 64 percent of the tickets issued by Montgomery County have been paid.

County Police Department spokeswoman Janelle Smith said the number of unpaid tickets from fiscal 2012 wasn’t available Monday due to a county computer outage.

When a motorist fails to pay a red light or speed camera ticket received from Montgomery County, a Maryland driver’s vehicle registration is flagged and can’t be renewed until the tickets are paid.

Between the cameras’ installation in 2011 and March 2012, the county charged a $25 late fee on $40 speed camera tickets and $75 red light camera tickets that weren’t paid within 30 days.

The county halted that practice when Maryland District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn advised County Executive Ike Leggett that charging late fees may violate a state law that requires all counties charge the same fees for red light and speed camera tickets.

Without the late fees, Montgomery County is losing about $2 million annually in additional revenue.

Montgomery County has 56 fixed-pole speed cameras, six mobile speed cameras and 20 portable camera units. There are 38 red light cameras — up eight from fiscal 2012.

Richard Harrison, program manager of the Automated Traffic Enforcement Division of the Montgomery County Police Department, said the county is considering about 75 requests for speed and red light cameras. He said the backlog built up over the winter when it was too cold to put traffic sensors in the ground.

Read more: http://washingtonexaminer.com/fewer-red-light-speed-camera-tickets-in-montgomery-county-this-year/article/2528473

April 25, 2013

By Ari Ashe

WTOP 103.5

WASHINGTON – A new survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) finds that D.C. residents overwhelmingly support both red-light and speed cameras.

Among those surveyed, 87 percent support red-light cameras and 76 percent favor speed cameras.

“Despite D.C.’s camera program being portrayed in the media as very unpopular and unfair, our survey shows people really support them,” says IIHS researcher Anne McCartt.

Among drivers, about 71 percent support speed cameras, according to the survey. Among non-drivers, 90 percent support them.

Still, some D.C. residents gave WTOP a mixed opinion on speed cameras.

“They are just moneymakers and frankly, for that matter, I don’t know if they are accurate,” says Terri Robinson.

Marilyn Crane says she thinks all traffic cameras are “set up to generate revenue for the city.”

“I think you should have the ability to explain the circumstance to any officer and not have a machine issue you a citation,” Crane says. “I don’t like the human element being taken away.”

Between October 2012 and March 2013, D.C. issued 335,000 speed camera tickets, generating nearly $44.8 million for the city. As WTOP previously reported, the city is on pace to match the 700,000 tickets and $78.8 million generated last fiscal year, even though the fines for speeding dropped on April 1.

Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Gwen Crump cited statistics showing traffic fatalities in the District have decreased since the introduction of the city’s speed cameras.

“Over the past 11 years, since the speeding program was started in August 2001, the District experienced a 73 percent decrease in traffic fatalities: from 72 in 2001 to a historic low of 19 in 2012, a reduction of over 40 percent from 2011,” Crump tells WTOP.

Some D.C. residents agree the cameras are about safety.

“They’re a good idea, although I’ve been caught and gotten tickets in the mail. It’s made me slow down, particularly in neighborhoods,” says Carol Mills.

“I find them annoying because I’ve been caught by them, but I am not morally opposed to them. They serve a good purpose to discourage speeding in neighborhoods with children running around,” says Eileen Barrett.

D.C. is one of about 125 jurisdictions nationwide that have speed cameras. Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland also have robust speed and red-light camera networks.

Virginia law does not allow for speed cameras, although Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and the city of Fairfax all have red-light cameras.

According to AAA Mid-Atlantic, D.C. red-light cameras issued 91,550 tickets in fiscal year 2012, generating about $13 million. Most D.C. residents that spoke to WTOP said red-light cameras are much more acceptable than speed cameras.

“It’s a violation that’s much more predictable. People will turn when they’re not supposed to, or just go straight through a red light. You can justify those tickets and it saves others a lot of headaches,” says Robinson.

“It causes people to think when a light is changing and that can only improve safety,” says Marty Cotis.

Right-angle crashes, also known as T-bones, are among the deadliest types of collisions and can be caused by a driver running a red light.

But critics of red-light cameras point out that they also ticket drivers for minor violations, such as not coming to a complete stop while making a legal right turn on red.

Both drivers and non-drivers equally supported red-light cameras, according to the IIHS breakdown.

“Less than 10 percent of those we surveyed admitted to running a red light in the last month,” says McCartt. “When we asked whether you drove 10 miles over the speed limit in the last month, more than 20 percent admitted they had.”

The study also asked drivers about stop sign and crosswalk cameras.

D.C. residents were largely split on the issue, with 50 percent supporting the stop sign cameras and 47 percent supporting crosswalk cameras.

D.C. police are hoping to unveil both types of cameras within the next year.

Read more: http://www.wtop.com/109/3298755/DC-residents-down-with-traffic-