Speed Cameras

One million bucks for two speed cameras? They must be buying them from the same outfit that sold hammers and toilet seats to the Pentagon. A speed gun costs less the $100; a good camera, $500. Does it really cost 2,500 times as much to connect them together? George B. Wroe, Glyndon

The emailed directive went out mid-morning on April 16 from a Baltimore City traffic engineer: No more speed camera tickets are to be issued from the camera in the 3900 block of The Alameda. Less than five hours later, an engineering supervisor wrote another email, stating that the city's entire speed and red-light camera network was being put on ice. The emails, provided by the city in response to a Public Information Act request, offer a glimpse at how transportation officials made a major decision about a controversial program that has caused recurring headaches for the city and many motorists.

Jay Hancock 's screed ("Welcome to Md., becoming known as the 'Speed Trap State,'" Dec. 13) about speed cameras on Maryland's highways reads as an apology for speeding (which endangers other drivers, workers, children, and animals such as deer) with the implication that it is good for business. The Connecticut businessman he defends, who claims to go no more than five miles over the limit in his home state, was clocked going 12 (significant because he would need approximately another 25-35 feet to stop)

After a three-month delay, Baltimore has resumed posting parking ticket data on OpenBaltimore, the city government's transparency website. Officials gave no explanation for the lengthy delay in updating the site. Nothing had been added to the database since late January. That has changed, and the site now has information for tickets issued as recently as Thursday. Those include citations for parking in a handicapped zone, at an expired meter or too close to a fire hydrant, as well as speed camera tickets.

If officials in Baltimore County were concerned about safety, they would install speed humps instead of speed cameras ("Balto. Co. to shift speed cameras, add another," Sept. 22). A camera can't make a vehicle slow down while a speed hump can. Speed humps are low tech, low maintenance and low cost. It's a no brainer. Yet the county is willing to spend our tax money on expensive gadgets that can't enhance safety, and the reason why is obvious. It's risky business when we allow our elected officials to use law enforcement as a means of revenue generation.

After having read your editorial supporting Maryland's red light and speed cameras, I am forced to wonder how you, as journalistic heirs to the great H. L. Mencken, have so completely lost touch with the basic realities of the contemporary world ("The purpose of speed cameras," Dec. 27). These devices have nothing whatever to do with any type of road safety. They were brought to us by a cadre of manipulative, lying, thieving politicians who were too cowardly to openly raise taxes yet desperate for revenue.

Special cameras are the answer, all school areas need them. I live close to Scotchtown Hills Elementary in Laurel, and the camera helped slow down the speeders there. There is also a four-way stop close by and I've seen trucks speed through without stopping as some auto drivers do. I doubt a smiley face or frown face would mean anything to those who don't care, but a $40 fine would get their attention. Luella Cain Laurel

I was delighted to read your recent editorial in support of Maryland's speed cameras ("The purpose of speed cameras," Dec. 27), especially as it followed a column by Jay Hancock in which he departed from the genius that normally distinguishes his commentary and entered the realm of the blathering "booboisie" of AM talk radio ("'Speed trap state' new Md. motto, thanks to cameras," Dec. 12). Mr. Hancock gave us the Connecticut businessman so outraged over a $40 speeding ticket for driving 67 mph in a 55 mph work zone that he threatened to stop doing business in Maryland.

It is staggering to learn that over $13 million in revenue has been collected by the Maryland in the short time speed cameras have been installed along construction zones on I-95 and I-895. This is nothing more than a greedy money grab that denies most people any due process or ability to contest their citations. Who can take a day off from work to fight a $40 ticket? Most people will just mail in their fine and chalk the incident up as another good reason to consider leaving Maryland.

Baltimore issued more than 16,000 speed camera tickets in less than two months this year before shutting the troubled program down over a programming error, according to figures posted by the city. The numbers offer a detailed statistical look at the recent performance of the program targeted this year by state lawmakers. Officials started issuing the $40 tickets for the first time this year on Feb. 20, the figures show. But they announced on April 16 that they had again stopped citing drivers amid reports that one of the city's new cameras had been programmed with the wrong speed limit, resulting in hundreds of erroneous tickets.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday she's pressing her Department of Transportation to ensure speed camera accuracy after officials acknowledged that 590 erroneous tickets were issued by the city's new multimillion-dollar camera system. At the same time, the mayor said, she's committed to a program that she believes helps protect children from drivers who speed in school zones. "I'm going to continue to put pressure on the Department of Transportation to continue to improve the program and to get it right," Rawlings-Blake said.

Baltimore's speed cameras are off-line for the second time this year after officials found faults with some of the tickets issued by the city's new camera system vendor. Officials say they will void or refund nearly 600 erroneous tickets. We would be inclined to compliment the city for how seriously it is taking the responsibility to eliminate all errors from the program if there weren't something so odd about this latest twist in the Baltimore speed camera saga. According to a news release issued by the Department of Transportation late Tuesday afternoon, the city decided to shut the cameras down after finding some "clerical mistakes" involving the payment options listed on tickets and the speed limit near one camera on the Alameda.

So, we don't need speed cameras? Perhaps Matt Hersl's life might not have been saved by the presence of speed cameras, but neither was it saved even by the presence of a state trooper ("City worker killed in City Hall crash," April 10). The interstate highways around Baltimore are race tracks where speed limits are routinely ignored by 15 mph or more. To those who feel the cameras victimize them I say: There are no "victims" in traffic enforcement, only violators. Judging from The Sun's reports, Matt Hersl was a magnificent man, neighbor and friend who will be sorely missed and mourned by his family.

The city's Board of Estimates on Wednesday formally approved an overhaul of the city's speed cameras and the replacement of a police-towing company accused of overcharging customers. The panel voted 4-1 to approve a $2.2 million payment to Brekford Corp., the city's new speed camera vendor, for a purchase of 72 speed cameras. In January, the city's speed and red light camera system experienced a near-complete shutdown during what city officials called a problematic transition from previous contractor, Xerox State & Local Solutions.

Legislation that would have placed stricter limits on where local governments could put speed cameras and required them to appoint ombudsmen to hear complaints died in the General Assembly Monday night. The legislation would have strengthened language prohibiting governments from entering into new contracts under which they paid private companies for each ticket issued, but would have allowed current contracts to stand. A Republican filibuster prevented a Senate vote on the measure as the General Assembly session neared its end. Gov. Martin O'Malley had planned to sign the compromise legislation, which was prompted by a Baltimore Sun investigation that documented erroneous tickets and other problems in Baltimore's program.

There had to be some drama at the end. The 2013 General Assembly session, in a marked contrast to the train wreck that was the 2012 edition, moved toward its conclusion Monday as a model of efficiency and cooperation. For once, the kids weren't waiting until the night before to do their homework, having wrapped up virtually all of the major issues by Friday. And then came the speed camera bill. After a series of reports in The Sun about erroneous tickets given to motorists in Baltimore City (including one case of a car ticketed for speeding while stopped at a red light)