So whats's the real reason for the cameras? Referenced fatal accident was not in school zone, but on major highway, and driver wasn't speeding. Article is from today's Easton Star Democrat:
EASTON — Speed camera use starts today in Easton, on the one-year anniversary of an accident that claimed the life of Avery Monique Bechtel, 13, of St. Michaels.
Easton Police Chief David Spencer cited Avery’s death when he requested the cameras, which he said are for safety, not for revenue. Avery died Aug. 15, 2011, from injuries sustained after a car struck her Aug. 13 while she tried to cross the Easton Parkway at Marlboro Road
At a public hearing on Ordinance 596, which amended the town code to include school zones and to authorize the use of speed cameras within those zones, Spencer said one death is too many, and emphasized the need to keep children safe on Easton’s roads.
“Our main objective is to protect the children and residents of Easton from drivers who are choosing to disobey the posted speed limit and break the law,” EPD 1st Sgt. Rhonda Thomas, who is in charge of the program, said last week. “The overriding goal of this program is not to trap drivers or catch speeders. The goal is to make people aware and get them to slow down ... lives depend on it.”
The radar cameras take a series of pictures of vehicles exceeding a posted speed limit by at least 12 mph. Those digital images are used to identify a vehicle’s registered owner and appear on each $40 citation.
About $15 of each citation paid goes to the camera company, RedSpeed USA, with the rest going to the town for use in public safety.
For the first month, motorists will get warnings instead of tickets.
Maryland law allows the use of cameras, within the school zones only, weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. It also allows use of speed cameras within a half-mile radius of a school. Easton has seven school zones, which combined had 2,261 accidents from 2001 to 2010.
When Easton’s Town Council unanimously passed the ordinance, Councilman Pete Lesher said he’d heard little opposition to the move. But at least one local legislator opposes the cameras, which he said replace traditional law enforcement and are a revenue grab.
“The company shouldn’t get money per ticket,” said Del. Michael Smigiel, R-36-Cecil. Smigiel, who spoke in Easton last week about the problems with speed cameras, said that gives an incentive to give more tickets.
“It’s supposed to be about public safety, not about money,” he said.
Smigiel also said the tickets, since they are civil citations and do not carry points on a license, bastardize the legal process.
“It’s absolutely contrary to all the principals we would normally assume would apply to any kind of allegation we’ve committed some kind of wrong,” he said. “Liberty is seldom lost in one fell swoop — its lost one camera at a time.”
So whats's the real reason for the cameras? Referenced fatal accident was not in school zone, but on major highway, and driver wasn't speeding. Article is from today's Easton Star Democrat:
EASTON — Speed camera use starts today in Easton, on the one-year anniversary of an accident that claimed the life of Avery Monique Bechtel, 13, of St. Michaels.
Easton Police Chief David Spencer cited Avery’s death when he requested the cameras, which he said are for safety, not for revenue. Avery died Aug. 15, 2011, from injuries sustained after a car struck her Aug. 13 while she tried to cross the Easton Parkway at Marlboro Road
At a public hearing on Ordinance 596, which amended the town code to include school zones and to authorize the use of speed cameras within those zones, Spencer said one death is too many, and emphasized the need to keep children safe on Easton’s roads.
“Our main objective is to protect the children and residents of Easton from drivers who are choosing to disobey the posted speed limit and break the law,” EPD 1st Sgt. Rhonda Thomas, who is in charge of the program, said last week. “The overriding goal of this program is not to trap drivers or catch speeders. The goal is to make people aware and get them to slow down ... lives depend on it.”
The radar cameras take a series of pictures of vehicles exceeding a posted speed limit by at least 12 mph. Those digital images are used to identify a vehicle’s registered owner and appear on each $40 citation.
About $15 of each citation paid goes to the camera company, RedSpeed USA, with the rest going to the town for use in public safety.
For the first month, motorists will get warnings instead of tickets.
Maryland law allows the use of cameras, within the school zones only, weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. It also allows use of speed cameras within a half-mile radius of a school. Easton has seven school zones, which combined had 2,261 accidents from 2001 to 2010.
When Easton’s Town Council unanimously passed the ordinance, Councilman Pete Lesher said he’d heard little opposition to the move. But at least one local legislator opposes the cameras, which he said replace traditional law enforcement and are a revenue grab.
“The company shouldn’t get money per ticket,” said Del. Michael Smigiel, R-36-Cecil. Smigiel, who spoke in Easton last week about the problems with speed cameras, said that gives an incentive to give more tickets.
“It’s supposed to be about public safety, not about money,” he said.
Smigiel also said the tickets, since they are civil citations and do not carry points on a license, bastardize the legal process.
“It’s absolutely contrary to all the principals we would normally assume would apply to any kind of allegation we’ve committed some kind of wrong,” he said. “Liberty is seldom lost in one fell swoop — its lost one camera at a time.”
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