Fewer drivers are getting speed camera tickets but 40% of
those who get tickets are repeat offenders.
- The good news: “according to AAA Mid-Atlantic, drivers seem to be getting the message of safety as ticket issuing significantly decreased in 2018. For example, on the northbound lanes in the work zone area, around 50,152 speed camera tickets were issued from July 2017 to December 2017. But from January 2018 to July 2018, that number dropped to 27,949 tickets issued, a 44.2 percent decrease, AAA Mid-Atlantic said.” (Teta Alim’s WTOP report)
- The bad news: “In the past year alone, speed cameras in the work zone where the Capital Beltway crosses Suitland Road have recorded 124,477 people speeding, according to a report compiled by AAA. At $40 a pop, those work zone tickets would earn the state close to $5 million.” Per John B. Townsend II, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, “About 40 percent of the people who get these tickets are repeat offenders.” (Ashley Halsey III’s Washington Post report)
- While figures from Maryland’s SafeZones speed-camera program show a reduction in speed through work zones, the $40 citation that accompanies violations hasn’t been enough to slow down an incorrigible group of speeders. Some are willing to pay the fine and put the pedal to the metal because there is no increase in penalties for amassing dozens of citations—and some drivers do exactly that.
Take the owner of a particular Toyota, who in May 2015 received a $40 speeding ticket for the 44th time in a little over two years. On the 44th occasion, a speed camera snapped a photo of the car as it allegedly zipped past a highway construction zone at 71 miles per hour, well above the 55 mph limit.
A large majority of the recidivists notched just two or three tickets, but the group includes 1,944 vehicles with 10 or more tickets; 97 with 20 or more; and 16 with at least 30. Topping the list: a Honda that racked up 68 citations between 2010 and 2013. The totals include any warning notices issued in the first three weeks of a new camera deployment.
“Unfortunately, there are those drivers out there who will drive without regard for workers” or people in other cars, said Lora Rakowski, spokeswoman for Maryland’s State Highway Administration. (Wall Street Journal story via Fox News) - Thanks to John Townsend, AAA, for this information.