Photo by katmaresin

With all the complaints about speed cameras in D.C., just wait until Montgomery County starts installing its new cameras.

Yesterday on WTOP Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said that he had started deploying mobile cameras to catch drivers doing what many do after passing through a speed camera zone — they just speed back up. Prince George’s County Police Chief Mark Magaw said that he had started a similar deployment last September and it had been effective in forcing drivers to drive more slowly more consistently.

But much like in the District, some drivers in Maryland are convinced that the new cameras are less about safety and more about money. Of course, as any driver caught in the District will tell you, if it were all about the money, Maryland counties would simply abandon their $40 speeding fine and adopt a more expensive and graded scale of fines like the District does, which run from $75 to $250.

In related news, Greater Greater Washington’s David Alpert proposed a solution for the District that might not make anyone happy, though it does make some sense — lower fines for speed cameras, but way more speed cameras. According to him, if the idea is to make people drive more slowly, they should have to think about cameras more often, and if they do run a red light or speed, they can’t argue that the city is merely trying to fleece them with incredibly high fines.