D.C. Aims To Catch Speeders On Camera
Six Devices Will Patrol 40 to 60 Designated Areas

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By Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 2, 2001; Page B01

After a year-long delay, D.C. police are scheduled to announce today the use of radar cameras to capture motorists who race through city streets, the latest effort by local officials to use technology to control traffic scofflaws.

After claiming success in curbing red-light runners through photo images, D.C. police will begin ticketing speeders with six speed cameras. The effort will start with a month-long probationary period, during which offenders will get warnings rather than tickets.

The program was announced last August but never started because of technical and legal concerns. Now police are ready to try again. Officials are scheduled to announce the start of the region's first photo radar system at a news conference today at the corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Arizona Avenue in Northwest Washington, two blocks from where an 81-year-old woman was killed by a hit-and-run driver in December.

At town hall meetings this year, residents have demanded that police and city officials increase traffic enforcement. Speed-related traffic deaths occur in the District at nearly twice the average national rate.

"This is the future of speed enforcement. [A camera] could be anywhere," said Lt. Patrick Burke, traffic safety coordinator for the D.C. police. "You've got to look in the mirror and change your own behavior."

Burke said photo enforcement is only part of an increased push to make drivers aware that they move too fast. Police also will begin a "mass arrest" of motorists blatantly breaking the speed laws -- specifically, those driving more than 30 mph over the speed limit. The department also expects to start using 70 new laser radar guns in patrol cars July 9.

Unless otherwise posted, the speed limit on District streets is 25 mph; in alleys it's 15 mph.

The cameras aim a narrow radar beam at a 20-degree angle across a street and click a photo if a car crosses at or above a threshold speed. Officials did not specify how high the threshold would be.

The cameras will print out a photo of the speeding vehicle, along with the address, date, speed and corresponding fine. The tickets will be issued by mail, and drivers can pay them by mail or fight them in court.

The photo radar will involve off-duty officers working overtime Monday through Saturday, roaming targeted areas in five Ford Crown Victoria sedans mounted with the radar cameras. One camera will be mounted at a fixed location.

A news release on the program cited MacArthur Boulevard and the corner of North Capitol and Longfellow streets, both scenes of recent fatal accidents, as among target areas for the crackdown.

The enforcement will be concentrated at 40 to 60 sites during the first four to six months, and the program's early stages will be focused on collecting and analyzing data.

The sites selected for enforcement will be listed on the D.C. police department's Web site (www.mpdc.org), Burke said.

The effort to nab speeders is similar to the city's use of cameras to catch motorists who run red lights. That program, launched in 1999, deploys 39 cameras at intersections with the most violations. Last year it generated more than $9 million in fines for the District, and police said it has drastically reduced infractions at some intersections.

Citywide, about 12,000 traffic citations were issued last year, police said.

Lockheed Martin IMS, which runs the red-light program, will fund the start-up and operational costs for the Dutch-made radar cameras. In return, Lockheed will receive $29 for every ticket paid. Fines for speeding tickets range from $30 to $200, depending on how fast the motorist was going.

District police point to successes in other cities like Portland, Ore., which registered a 30 percent drop in speeders after installing eight cameras. Nationally, 30 percent of fatal accidents are attributed to speed; in the District, fast driving causes 56 percent of fatalities, said Lt. Bridget Sickon, head of the major crash investigation unit.

At an April town hall meeting about crime in Northeast Washington, Ward 4 residents complained to Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey that their streets resembled the Indianapolis 500 raceway and that drivers treat pedestrian crosswalks as little more than decor.

"If you step out in these streets, you will lose your life or at least a few limbs," Lillian Roane, a high school math teacher, told Ramsey.

Roane said seniors have trouble crossing the street to attend church near her home.

Ramsey insisted to Ward 4 residents that cameras are the answer because "those things never sleep."

Anne Renshaw said that when she steps on her front porch facing Military Road in Northwest Washington, she sees dozens of drivers speeding -- some at speeds above 60 mph, she estimated.

Renshaw, who chairs the Chevy Chase Advisory Neighborhood Commission, began writing letters to city officials in October 1997, asking for red-light and speed cameras, particularly at six spots along Military Road.

"It is without a doubt a speedway at certain times of the day, depending on the traffic flow," Renshaw said last week. "We deserve better protection, and if this is one way . . . put up the cameras."

© 2001 The Washington Post Company