Speed Cameras So Unreliable In One City, Officials Are Scrapping System

Speed Cameras So Unreliable In One City, Officials Are Scrapping System


Automated speed cameras have become so unreliable in Baltimore that city officials are removing all of the cameras in operation and replacing with newer models in a $ 450,000 overhaul, officials said Monday.


The city’s former speed camera vendor told The Baltimore Sun the city’s cameras had an error rate that exceeded 5 percent, and the city’s deputy transportation director said he no longer had full confidence in the system’s accuracy.


More than 1.6 million tickets have been issued since the system was installed in 2009.


It’s unclear who will pay for the new system. The Sun, in extensive reporting on the problems, said officials have not clarified whether the contractor or taxpayers will pay for the new cameras, which cost about $ 5,000 a piece.


Last month, AAA Mid-Atlantic said Baltimore’s speed cameras were a “nightmare.”


“The troubles with Baltimore’s speed camera system have raised the eyebrows of motorists, legislators and traffic safety advocates, and have truly called the integrity of the city’s entire program into question,” AAA spokesperson Ragina Averella wrote in a written statement.


In its investigation, the Sun found that seven of the city’s speed cameras erroneously clocked vehicles traveling faster than their actual speed. One car was ticketed when it was stopped at a red light.


Related story: Speed camera issues ticket to motionless car.


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