The use of speed cameras is one of the hottest topics when it comes to its proven ability to catch drivers flat-footed, blasting through a red light pedal to the metal.
That’s why, in my current visit to the Washington area, an article in the Metro section of the Washington Post captured my attention. According to columnist Petula Dvorak, the main justification that authorities use to install speed cameras is that they reduce accidents and fatalities “in school and construction zones as well as traffic trouble spots that have been known to maim and kill.”
In Montgomery County, MD, officials highlight their effectiveness in reducing infractions by pointing out that in the first few years after they were installed, collisions have gone down by 30% in those locations.
But there is another hot-button rationale: These innocent looking units hanging atop cross beams at intersections and mounted on vertical poles by the side of the road are astonishingly effective money-making machines.
Montgomery County has been dubbed “the speed camera capital of [this] region.” The number of cameras installed here grew from about twelve in 2007, to 109.
Net Result: In 2009, the county pulled in just under $21,000,000.
No, I have not mistakenly thrown in too many zeroes! (Just imagine how much dough these digital wonders would generate for Bridgewater, if strategically placed along a few key roads and at intersections within our township.)
However, they come with another cost, one with which Montgomery County officials are apparently OK. These cameras have infuriated enough drivers in this area to the extent that a viral hatred for these tricksters has grown, and motorists have taken to ingenious ways of temporarily disabling them.
Dvorak writes that they have been “cut down, torched, painted, silly-stringed, paint-balled, foiled by a simple Post-It note over the lens and repeatedly capped with Styrofoam cups and boxes.”
Just presenting the facts!
Have a good weekend. Thanks for reading and don’t forget: Stay engaged.
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