After a four year hiatus, Mayor Pugh calls for new speed and red light cameras for Baltimore City.
“It is the latest chapter in a saga that began in Baltimore under the administration of former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and ended in a haze of finger pointing and false readings in 2013. The scandal forced Rawlings-Blake to shut down the program and abandon dozens of unused cameras on street corners around the city where they sit to this day.” – Baltimore Sun
Jul 30, 2018 – Baltimore Speed And Red Light Cameras At Three Dozen New Spots – Sun
Feb 26, 2018 – Proposed Bill Would Change How Speed Cameras Operate In Maryland – CBS
Mar 29, 2017 – Baltimore Reviving Speed, Red Light Cameras To Raise Revenue – Biz
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It is a violation of the public trust to continue to collect revenue from speed cameras that are inaccurate. Baltimore City and other local governments should immediately issues refunds when a citation is false, and government has a duty to be proactive and to verify all cameras are working correctly.
- May 24, 2014 – New Evidence In Baltimore City’s Fraud With Speed Cameras – Sun
- Feb 5, 2014 – To Investigate Speed Cameras And Health Exchange Start With The Lobbyists – RedMD
- Jan 28, 2014 – Speed Camera Audits Shouldn’t Be Limited To The City – Sun
- Jan 23, 2014 – AAA Calls On Counties To Audit Speed Camera Programs – Sun
- Jan 14, 2014 – Baltimore City Refusing To Release Speed Camera Audit – Sun
- Jan 11, 2014 – Baltimore City OK’d Speed Camera Ticket For Parked Truck – Sun
- Dec 19, 2013 – Another Speed Camera Debacle – Rec
- Dec 19, 2013 – What’s Next For Baltimore’s Speed Cameras – Sun
- Dec 18, 2013 – Mayor Pledges New, Smaller Speed Camera System – Sun
- Nov 16, 2013 – Baltimore City Moving To End Latest Speed Camera Contract – Sun
- Oct 30, 2013 – Baltimore City Mayor Says Speed Cameras Still Not Ready – Sun
- Jul 31, 2013 – Questions Cause Charles County To Suspend Speed Camera Program –
- Jun 13, 2013 – With Still No Fix Balt City Speed Cameras Remain Offline – Sun
- Apr 29, 2013 – Balt City Issues 16,000 Speed Camera Tickets In 6 Weeks – Balt Sun
- Apr 24, 2013 – Balt City In $2M Dispute With Xerox Over Speed Cameras – Balt Sun
- Apr 23, 2013 – WOW! Baltimore City To Void 6000 Speed Camera Tickets – Balt Sun
- Apr 19, 2013 – Irregularities In Bidding Raises More Questions Re Speed Cam – Brew
- Apr 18, 2013 – City Suspends Speed Camera Tickets Amid New Mistakes – Balt Sun
- Apr 17, 2013 – Has Baltimore City Found Religion On Speed Cameras? – Balt Sun
- Apr 17, 2013 – After 590 Bad Tickets, Mayor Is “For” Speed Cam Accuracy – Balt Sun
- Apr 9, 2013 – On Speed Cameras The Perfect Was The Enemy Of The Good – Balt Sun
- Apr 7, 2013 – Baltimore Delegates Rebuke City Over Speed Camera Woes – Balt Sun
- Apr 3, 2013 – Speed Camera Bill Advances In The House – Balt Sun
- Apr 3, 2013 – Speed Camera Reform To Be Considered At End Of Session – Balt Sun
- Apr 2, 2013 – Which Kids Are Baltimore Speed Cameras Keeping Safe? – Balt Sun
- Mar 25, 2013 – Maryland Senate Passes Weakened Speed Camera Bill – Balt Sun
- Mar 20, 2013 – Mayor’s Task Force Recommends Speed Camera Reforms – Balt Sun
- Mar 5, 2013 – Circuit Ct Rules Balt County Speed Camera Contract Is Illegal – Balt Sun
- Mar 5, 2013 – Op-Ed – AAA Says Fix State Speed Cameras – Balt Sun
- Feb 27, 2013 – Annapolis Mayor Says Speed Camera “Smacks Of Big Brother” – Cap
- Feb 21, 2013 – Proposal Wants MD Speed Cam To Give “Photographic Proof” – Times
- Feb 20, 2013 – SB785 Maryland Speed Camera Repeal Being Heard
- Feb 16, 2013 – Experts Say New Speed Cameras Won’t Stop Errors – Balt Sun
- Jan 23, 2013 – The Lie At The Heart Of The Speed Camera System – Balt Sun
- Jan 23, 2013 – Troubled Transition Shuts Down Speed Cameras – Balt Sun
- Jan 7, 2012 – VICTORY – Baltimore City To Replace Speed Camera System – Balt Sun
City official worried in July speed camera problems could ‘get out of hand’. Third city camera shown to record inaccurate speed
By Scott Calvert and Luke Broadwater, The Baltimore Sun, Dec 4, 2012
City transportation officials were so worried four months ago about inaccurate speeding tickets coming from an automated camera on Cold Spring Lane that a supervisor ordered the problem fixed before it could “get out of hands,” documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun show.
Yet the camera remained in operation, continuing to record erroneous citations. And it was only last month that the city said it was investigating the source of the errors.
Meanwhile, evidence emerged Tuesday of problems at another speed camera miles away. The Sun determined that a camera on Walther Avenue in Northeast Baltimore ticketed a Toyota sedan for traveling 56 mph, even though time-stamped photos and a measurement of the pavement show it was moving 34 mph, not fast enough to warrant a $40 ticket.
The developments come amid renewed scrutiny of Baltimore’s speed cameras, with the city employing a new “reasonableness” test of the tickets’ accuracy, a top transportation official saying he lacks confidence in the cameras’ radar and continuing calls to shut down some cameras temporarily while problems are investigated.
The Sun’s findings bring to three the number of city speed cameras with documented inaccuracies, and the city says it’s also investigating a fourth camera, in the 3800 block of Greenspring Avenue.
Chris Gilligan, a spokesman for the city’s speed camera contractor, Xerox State & Local Solutions, said the government and the company are conducting a comprehensive review of all 83 speed cameras in the city. “We believe the system-wide error rate is below 1 percent,” Gilligan added.
Nonetheless, critics of the speed camera program renewed calls Tuesday for some cameras to be shut down until the errors are explored and the breadth of the problem is determined, an idea that has also been advocated by some City Council members.
“These issues are obviously widespread and not limited to one or two specific cameras,” said Ragina Averella, a member of a task force formed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to review the city’s red-light and speed camera system.
Councilman Brandon Scott introduced a resolution this week calling for an investigative hearing on the city’s speed camera program.
“We want to have DOT [ the Department of Transportation] come before us and tell us how they’re addressing these erroneous tickets and make sure they’re not happening moving forward,” he told fellow council members at a lunch Monday.
Both the city and Xerox, a unit of the office technology company Xerox Corp., have said the erroneous speed readings on Cold Spring Lane were limited to trucks. “Now we’re seeing it’s obviously an issue with cars,” said Averella, public and government affairs manager for driver-advocacy group AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Asked about the Walther Avenue camera, city Transportation Department spokeswoman Adrienne Barnes issued a statement saying the agency “takes any possible camera errors seriously” and “will do everything possible to prevent technical equipment errors and ensure the program continues to improve traffic safety in Baltimore.”
Barnes also said the city and Xerox are “continuing a rigorous investigation of the Cold Spring location and additional measures have been put in place to eliminate potential errors pending the results of the investigation.” The Sun has documented an erroneous ticket at that location as recently as Nov. 15.
