Skip to main content

Speed cameras have ‘changed the way people in Montgomery County drive’

According to police in Montgomery County, Maryland, the speed camera program the county started in 2009 has made roads safer and reduced speeding in a way no other tool could. “What we’ve seen is something that’s changed driver behavior like nothing else has in the history of law enforcement,” Captain Paul Starks, a police spokesperson, told County Cable Montgomery. Starks said the number of citations from speed cameras is on a steady decline, proof that the program is working and not merely a revenue strat
May 29, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
According to police in Montgomery County, Maryland, the speed camera program the county started in 2009 has made roads safer and reduced speeding in a way no other tool could.

“What we’ve seen is something that’s changed driver behavior like nothing else has in the history of law enforcement,” Captain Paul Starks, a police spokesperson, told County Cable Montgomery.

Starks said the number of citations from speed cameras is on a steady decline, proof that the program is working and not merely a revenue strategy.

“Our goal from the start has been to change driver behavior, particularly in areas where we have pedestrians and a history of collisions,” said county council member Phil Andrews, who the Council’s Public Safety Committee. “Our police department has done an excellent job of placing cameras where the history shows there’s been a large number of collisions or where there are many pedestrians, especially children, present in school areas or areas near bus stops, playgrounds and areas where speeding has been a long concern and there’s been a connection to collisions.”

Related Content

  • Jenoptik enforces Warwickshire speed
    December 7, 2021
    33,640 people were caught speeding in Warwickshire during 2020
  • Distraction dominated teen driver accident causes.
    June 3, 2015
    As a new report shows that distracted driving is a bigger cause of accidents than previously thought, Jon Masters asks what should be done to counter this problem. Research carried out by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has shed new light on the dangers of distraction for teen drivers. Six years of study using video analysis has shown that 58% of all crashes involving teen drivers are caused by the driver being distracted and proved that the influence of external factors is stronger than previously th
  • TRB 2023: NTSB ‘fighting for 43,000 people’
    January 12, 2023
    NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy highlights 'preventable pain of transportation disasters'
  • Expanding photo enforcement
    July 25, 2014
    Bellevue City Council, Washington has approved an expansion of the city’s photo enforcement program, supplied by American Traffic Solutions, from three red-light cameras and two school-zone cameras to six red-light cameras and three school-zone cameras. In an effort to improve traffic safety at busy intersections and school zones, the city in 2009 and 2010 installed cameras to catch red light runners and school zone speeders. Police data show that the cameras now in place generally have changed driver