August 3, 2006
D.C. Losing Its Need for Speed?
Since they were installed in 1999, reactions to the red-light and speed cameras have been decidedly mixed. While there has been support for photo traffic enforcement, many people see cameras as an invasion of privacy or even a ploy targeted at predominantly non-white communities. Others simply think they are an irritating way for the city to raise hundreds of millions of additional revenue.
However, the Washington Post reports today that the cameras are having an effect on the behavior of drivers around the city. On residential streets where speed cameras have been installed, the average speed of motorists has decreased by almost 30 percent, down to 25.4 mph - just above the posted limit. On highways, the same phenomenon has occurred, with average speeds at 45.2 mph in 50 mph zones, a decrease of about 22 percent. As a result, speed-related traffic accidents are down 40 percent.
We are certainly happy to see people observing local speed limits, which is obviously a good thing if it leads to less injuries and deaths on the road. However, we'd like to point out a phenomenon that we have observed. Drivers have learned where the speed cameras are located on each targeted road, and will slow down dramatically as they approach the camera's view. As soon as they are out of range, though, they hit the gas. Anyone else experienced (or practiced) this evasion tactic?
Photo by IntangibleArts
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This is bullshit. How do they determine that speeding has decreased on the streets with photo enforcement? Because the number of tickets have decreased since the cameras were put in place? That just means that people have learned where the cameras are located. I can tell you from first hand experience that on NY ave, where the speed limit is 35mph (six lanes), people drive at 50mph right up to the little stretch with the camera and slow down to 30-35mph. As soon as they are out of range, they accelerate back up to 50mph. I wouldn't really call that progress.
Wow. I should have read the rest of the article. I pretty much repeated your last paragraph. Speeding cameras make me angry.
I'd have to agree with han. 295 south of PA ave is exactly like han's experience on NY ave. Speed, slow up so you don't get pinched, speed again. I'm sure the figures are correct for the average speeds for the particular portions of the street monitored by the camera, but people have just adapated to the the fact that they might get a ticket. Its laughable to say that average speed = posted speed on most DC streets, unless of course traffic jams lower those averages.
Photo enforcement is rubbish. Just another excuse for cash-strapped cities to milk it so that they can pay the bills. If you really wanted people to slow down, you'd put the traffic lights in places where people can actually see them.
I have to admit to hating speed cameras; I think at times the city, state, county, whatever sets the speed limits too low in certain areas as a way to increase ticketing and revenue.
But red light cameras I am totally behind. If you almost hit me AS I CROSS WITH THE LIGHT then there has to be some vengence somewhere. And since handguns are illegal in DC, I guess this is the best payback I'll get. Plus, it just might change your behavior next time.
Photo enforcement of speeding makes the civil libertarian in me cringe. I can understand the argument that people make for pedestrian safety, but do we really need speeding cameras in the 395 tunnel? I'm fairly sure I've never encountered a pedestrian down there, and if anyone has I would like to know what they were doing there.
In this tunnel people speed, slow down, then speed up again after the camera. In my opinion, this creates a much more hazardous situation than if the cars just kept going 55 mph.
I would also have to second the argument that a decrease in speeding violations via these cameras absolutely does not indicate a decrease in speeding in the city. I know where the cameras are and I sure as hell make sure I'm not speeding when I pass.
One of the key comments in the article is that "speed related accidents are down 40%". This is completely meaningless as it doesn't tell you if accidents in total are down, which I doubt they are. There are 3 things that cause accidents: bad roads, bad drivers, and bad cars.
About the red-light cameras, in theory they seem like a good idea, but they have been shown to actually increase accidents at intersections where they are put in due to people slamming on their brakes at the light rather than just running the yellow like they normally would. Most red-light accidents are from people straight running the red, not running a late yellow. The cameras I've seen go as soon as the light changes which to me means they are just a cash cow for the city or county.
Why don't they crack down on TRULY wreckless drivers (like some of the crazy Metrobus drivers I've encountered) and people who shoot other people during disputes over parkings spaces on U Street instead of ticketing people for driving 32mph in a 25mph zone?
I would've thought the decrease in speed was a result of traffic becoming so horrendous that it's impossible to get up to the speed limit.
some metrobus drivers are unbelievable. Gotta wonder how much gas their lead feet burn unnecessarily. I've even had some going so fast that they blew right by me standing at a bus stop, were goign too fast to stop when they saw me. Pretty fucking annoying.
The only time I've received a ticket from a camera was when I was lost in a pretty bad part of town. Does anyone know how the location of the cameras is designated? Is it based on past accident frequency? Or arrests?
For the speed and slow down, I see this everyday down 16th St. People do 50 down 16th slam the brakes in front of Carter Barron, speed up then slam on again before the red light cam at 16th & Colorado. Another problem is that people creep in front of the speed cams well below the speed limit.
When I hear people complain about the speed cameras, I ask the how fast they were going. "Well,uh..." It's usually nearly double the posted speed.
Bus drivers have to defend themselves, against some really stupid car drivers, and peds. I think it is assumed that the bus HAS TO STOP for you. Wrong.
DC's speed cameras, along with its other actions aimed at turning the District into a police state, have certainly affected my behavior.
I simply won't drive in, or do business in the District.
Living in Maryland, just across the DC line, I worked and shopped downtown and banked and shopped in southeast for decades.
NO MORE! Now the only way I ever go into the District these days is to ride Metro through it going from Maryland to Virginia and back.
And when friends and relatives come to town and want to see the sights--they are on their own.
The one on 395 is the one that makes the least sense to me. It's an interstate highway, for heaven's sake. If they want people to slow down, especially if they're going northbound and headed for the light at New York Ave, they should consider rumble strips instead. It's bad enough that for an "interstate" the entire stretch in the District is only engineered for a top speed of 45 mph.
Totally agree with the earlier posters about the cameras on NY Ave and 295. People hit the brakes right before the hash marks, then speed up afterwards. I nearly rear-ended some folks the first time as they slowed down, but I'm used to it now. I'm sure they decrease the average speed within those little painted hash marks, but that's about it.
Police state? As if you've ever lived in one. Next you'll be calling them facists or nazis or what ever hyperbole you can muster.
What if - instead of ticketed speed cameras - the police use speed detectors like they're using in the UK? The article calls it "moral blackmail". Interesting read.
What really gets me is the 25 mph speed limit on most DC streets. Why a divided street can't be 35 or 40 is beyond me.
Also, if the cameras were about safety, they should be in areas where children and other pedestrians are at risk from speeding drivers, not in tunnels like 395, Conn Ave under Dupont Circle, East Capitol St just east of the river, etc.
I'm sorry, but most of the posts here are just wrong. Photo enforcement is a good thing - it's the first step in returning control of the streets to PEDESTRIANS rather than the psychotic drivers we have around here.
I'm a DC native but lived in Europe for a long time and I've never seen more a) badly trained or b) discourteous drivers than here in the US. Individualistic, me-first drivers should face the consequences of their behavior - whether it's a speeding ticket or worse.
Reading all the comments, I was amazed at how most drivers in this city simply admit to driving at whatever speed they can get away with. You're being propelled along with next to no effort--it's as if you expect your travel to be nearly instantaneous or at least as instantaneous as you can make it. Is going the speed limit so hard? Maybe it's just that today's vehicles make it hard. I don't have a car and walk or bike. I learned early on to avoid the big streets (and I can get most places on my bike as fast as most cars taking those big streets, especially going east-west). Now I know why the streets in DC are so insane.
I don't have a problem with the city making money off people who expect that the law shouldn't apply to them.