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

  • Transit’s Covid clean-up operation
    August 24, 2021
    The onset of Covid-19 saw ridership on public transport slump drastically. How will the organisations that provide these essential services persuade customers back on board?
  • Need for harmonisation in ITS standards
    February 1, 2012
    As the calendar rolls over, and we hop from continent to continent and World Congress to World Congress, where Memoranda of Understanding and cooperation agreements are the headline news, it is easy for those not intimately involved to forget that standards definition is a well-nigh continual process. Significant progress has been made in recent months towards achieving the critical mass and economies of scale which are going to drive development and deployment in, amongst other things, cooperative infrastr
  • AAA report: caught red-handed
    February 17, 2020
    Using published crash statistics, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s report found that 939 people were killed in red-light running crashes in 2017 – a rise of 28% since 2012. Moreover, more than a quarter (28%) of crash deaths at signalised intersections “are the result of a driver running through a red light”.
  • Orthopaedic surgeons launch campaign against distracted driving
    May 21, 2012
    The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) have announced their members' commitment to end the distracted driving problem in America. This national initiative, made possible, in part, with support from the Auto Alliance, encourages drivers to 'decide to drive' and includes a new multimedia public service advertising (PSA) campaign, interactive Web site, school curriculum, print public service poster contest and materials to help surgeons talk to all thei