(Click on the above image for Nick Iannelli's WTOP report)
- We heard a lot about drivers generally speeding more often and behaving more recklessly in 2020 because there were fewer vehicles on the roads during the coronavirus pandemic, and a new study from AAA mid-Atlantic provides specific evidence related to that.
- The study focuses on the bridge replacement work zone on the Capital Beltway above the Suitland Parkway in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
- According to the study, 105,362 speed camera tickets were given out in that particular area throughout 2020. That represents a nearly 12% increase over the year before, when 94,308 speed camera tickets were issued there.
- “This Beltway work zone sees 71.9 million vehicles per year,” said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA mid-Atlantic. “Despite conspicuous warning signs in its work zones, an average of 300 speeders were ticketed per day in 2020.”
- Another Maryland work zone that saw a ton of speed camera tickets during the pandemic was along the northbound side of Indian Head Highway, also known as Md. Route 210, between Kerby Hill and Palmer roads.
- Over the course of last year, 3,358 drivers received tickets for speeding through that area. That is a 49.7% increase over the year before, when 2,243 drivers were given tickets there.
- John Townsend's press release adds: State Troopers ticketed drivers clocked going as fast as 105 miles per hour along the Capital Beltway’s 55 mph speed limit.