Rockville Adds Four New Speed Cameras
Jun 2, 2009 10:16 - 3 Comments
I know a lot of people don’t like it so much, but in my book this belongs in the Good News Department. Rockville has added four new stationary speed camera locations.>
From the City’s press release:
Rockville City Police completed installation on June 1 of four new fixed-camera locations to its Speed Camera Program and will begin issuing tickets to violators of the posted speed on Friday, June 19.
Warnings only will be issued to violators of the posted speed from June 4 to June 18. . . .
Tickets are issued to drivers who are traveling at least 11 miles per hour over the speed limit. Violators receive a $40 citation in the mail. Money collected from the program is used for things such as sidewalk improvements and extensions, streetlights at intersections and crosswalks, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and two new officers who will be dedicated to traffic enforcement.
In addition to the fixed cameras, there’s a City van that goes around to various locations to catch speeders. You only get a ticket if you are going 11 miles or more than the speed limit. (So don’t give me any “civil liberties” claptrap.)
Here’s a map showing all the City speed camera locations:
View Rockville Speed Camera Locations in a larger map
(Red is stationary, purple camera is the van.)
The new ones are at:
- 500 block Redland Boulevard (westbound)
- 500 block Redland Boulevard (eastbound)
- 600 block Great Falls Road (northbound)
- 700 block Twinbrook Parkway (northbound)
Thank you to the City for continuing this program. It provides revenue for things the City needs and keeps traffic reasonable in places where it needs calming.
That’s just my opinion, mind you.
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I have also observed the van on Edmonston Drive (between Rockville Pike and Viers Mill Rd) and there is a permanent sign ("Photo Enforced") as well.
While I don't endorse speeding, I do support biking, which provides immunity to those cameras.
I don't have a problem with fines for speeders/red-light-runners, but I do have a problem with municipalities looking at these kinds of fines as revenue streams. We all should pay for public goods, not just the stupid people (which is my problem with government-sponsored gambling too). Traffic enforcement cameras should really be used to improve safety, and I think the incentives for municipalities can quickly deviate from that as soon as they start looking at them as investments.>
And the fact that you only get a ticket if you're going more than 10mph over the speed limit has nothing to do with "civil liberties". The civil liberties arguments generally center around 1) most traffic enforcement cameras can't identify the driver of the vehicle, and 2) do we really want to live in a society where we're being watched by cameras, that don't have context or judgment, all the time?
The 10mph over thing is related to the reliability of cameras, but that's a different matter. And, it doesn't resolve all the issues with these cameras reliably detecting and catching the right cars.