Bridget Reed Morawski
(WMAL) — A new, bipartisan Maryland bill would ban automated speed and red-light cameras across the state, potentially saving drivers tens of thousand of citations annually.
While the cameras were intended to be deterrence measures against risky driving, they’ve turned into a government revenue generator, according to Frederick County Senator Michael Hough.
“I know personally from driving around in some areas of Montgomery County, they’re set up as you’re going down hills, when you’re accelerating,” said Sen. Hough, a Republican representing District 4. “They’re set up so far away from school zones that they’re clearly not set up to protect the kids.”
In some counties, Sen. Hough says, aren’t seeing lower levels of speeding. They’re just seeing higher revenues.
“In Baltimore County and in Prince George’s County, the revenues continue to go up,” said Sen. Hough. “That tells you that this isn’t changing behavior as they say [it should]. People are continuing to speed.”
The bill’s democratic co-sponsor, Senator C. Anthony Muse from Prince George’s County, believes the cameras are located in ways that unfairly target poorer communities, and that the cameras’ usage has strayed too far from the original intent.
“[Revenue] was not the intent of a camera,” said Sen. Muse. “It was to save the life of a student at a school, and then it expanded to a workzone. That was it. They’re being placed everywhere now.”
While there is bipartisan sponsorship of the bill, a number of organizations oppose Hough’s bill, including the Maryland Chiefs of Police Asociation, the Maryland Sheriffs’ Association, the Maryland Association of Counties, and the Maryland Municipal League.
Both the Montgomery County Police Department and the Prince George’s County Chief Executive’s Office call the cameras “force-multipliers” that allow police departments to spread out their officers more effectively. Sen. Hough doesn’t believe that the cameras are effective police resources.
“They’re supposed to have a police officer who looks at all these pictures,” said Sen. Hough. “So they are still using police bodies and resources with these cameras.”
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