Radar Cameras Reining In Speeders

Drivers Traveling 28.5% Slower on Residential Streets

Washington motorists are easing up on their gas pedals and driving more safely since the city installed photo radar cameras five years ago, according to D.C. police.

The average speed on neighborhood streets where the devices are in place has been reduced 28.5 percent since 2001, police say. In June, cars went on average 25.4 mph, compared with 35.5 mph in July 2001. On such streets, the default speed limit is 25 mph unless otherwise posted.

On highways, where the speed limit is 50 mph, motorists have reduced their speed 21.7 percent since 2001. Vehicles traveled on highways at an average of 45.2 mph in June, compared with 57.7 mph in July 2001, according to police.

"People violate traffic laws because they can get away with it," said police spokesman Kevin Morison. "They can't get away with it at a place where we have a camera."

As a result, police say, traffic fatalities in which speed is the main factor have fallen significantly. In 2001, 30 people died in speed-related crashes; last year, 18 were killed because of speed, police data show.

The city began its automated traffic enforcement program in 1999 with red-light cameras and added the photo radar program two years later. Officials have gradually expanded both programs, despite motorists' complaints that the devices are aimed at certain roadways for the main purpose of generating millions in fines, not reducing accidents.

The city has 10 stationary cameras and 12 mobile ones set in roaming police cars. In June, 1.9 million vehicles passed through the enforcement zones and were monitored by the cameras.

Since 2001, the city has collected about $111.3 million in speeding fines generated by the cameras, data show. This year through June, the city has collected $16.4 million from speeders caught by the cameras.

Fines start at $30 for driving up to 10 mph over the speed limit and increase incrementally to $200 for going more than 25 mph too fast. Motorists who zoom 31 mph over the speed limit or faster face arrest for reckless driving.

Morison said that there has not been a study showing that the cameras make the streets safer but that the reduction in speed-related fatalities seems to prove that point.

When the program started, one in three motorists was aggressively speeding, which police define as going a "threshold speed" over the limit. Police do not release what that threshold is. In June, the number of aggressive speeders dropped to fewer than one in 50, the lowest in the five years of monitoring, according to police.

"The good news is not only are we getting aggressive speeders to slow down, we're getting everybody to be careful about the speed limit," Morison said.

Photo radar cameras have been used for more than 30 years in about 75 countries around the world, including Australia, according to D.C. police. The technology is used extensively in British Columbia and Alberta, where police have seen sharp decreases in speeding.

In the United States, it is used in several states, including Arizona, Oregon, Colorado and California. In National City, Calif., authorities have seen a 41 percent decrease in traffic crashes since the cameras went up, data show.

Morison said he thinks the cameras are an effective tool because police can monitor speeders without taking officers away from other types of policing.

"I think the thing that works with photo enforcement is the certainty of the enforcement and the strength of the evidence," he said.