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New speed cameras nabbing thousands

Four cameras catching more than 200 speeders per day.

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By Jeremy P. Kelley, Staff Writer Updated 1:03 PM Sunday, August 21, 2011

DAYTON — More than 3,500 speeding citations were issued in the first 17 days that Dayton’s expanded traffic camera system was activated — more than 200 per day — and that was with only four of the 10 cameras in place.

Dayton police call it evidence of a rampant speeding problem, but if citations continue on this pace, it could also create millions of dollars in revenue for a city facing a $15-million-per-year budget hole by 2013.

Dayton police Detective Carol Johnson, who manages the camera system, said the first four cameras began recording real citations July 31, after a month of issuing warnings.

She said work on the other six cameras starts this week, with those cameras possibly issuing citations by the end of August.

“We’ve seen cars speeding on the same street twice in 10 minutes. We’ve seen a car speed past one camera then hit the next one,” Johnson said. “Speeding in the city of Dayton is ridiculous. ... People need to drive the speed limit.”

Dayton city officials say there is a certain mark above the speed limit at which the cameras start issuing tickets, but they will not reveal whether it is 5, 10, 15 mph above. Police Chief Richard Biehl talked to City Commission in June about large numbers of drivers going more than 10 mph above the speed limit.

Financial impact

Several variables make it difficult to project how much money Dayton will collect from these civil speeding citations, which are just beginning to show up in local mailboxes, but it could easily be in the millions of dollars.

One conservative estimate would have the cameras continuing to issue 200 citations a day, as the addition of the six extra sites is offset by drivers slowing down as they learn about the cameras.

That would come to 73,000 citations per year, at $85 each, with $55 of that fine going to the city (the other $30 goes to camera company RedFlex). That would mean $4 million in potential city fine revenue.

Even if the city only collected on 55 percent of the citations — matching the collection rate for red-light camera citations — it would draw $2.2 million in new city revenue per year.

But that collection rate could go higher because of two recent city ordinances — one allowing cars with two or more unpaid camera citations to be towed, and another adding $25 late fees to citations not paid or appealed within 15 days.

Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan is battling a projected $15 million annual revenue decline from state, federal and local tax sources. But Riordan said he expects citations, and therefore revenue, to decline quickly. He cited the example of Dayton’s red-light cameras, which issued many more citations in their first few years.

“We never viewed (speed cameras) as a money-raiser,” Riordan said, adding he hasn’t done the math on possible income. “We viewed it as we did with the intersection cameras — they brought traffic accidents way down. I think it will slow speeding.”

How it works

The city is placing speed cameras at 10 locations based on the result of a 2010 speed study identifying high-accident areas. There are two cameras at each location, one covering each direction of travel, with warning signs about 50 yards before the cameras. Speeding offenses are detected by sensors buried in the pavement, triggering the camera to snap a photo of the offending vehicle, according to Dayton police.

A citation is mailed to the vehicle owner, including a picture of the car passing the camera, with the date, time and speed, and instructions on how to pay or appeal within 15 days. Since the citation goes to the vehicle owner, that person can inform the city if someone else was driving at the time.

Johnson said in addition to the photos, the camera records video of each driver, which can be reviewed at the appeal hearing. No points are assessed on the driver’s license, and insurance companies are not contacted, but people wishing to appeal have to pay the $85 fine up front, and are reimbursed if their citation is overturned.

Johnson said while Dayton police issued more than 3,500 citations in those first 17 days, they also rejected more than 800 cases where the camera photographed a speeder. Dayton police Major Larry Faulkner said some of those rejections occurred when there is a readability issue with the vehicle’s license plate, but others have to do with the speed threshold.

Faulkner confirmed that Dayton officers only issue a ticket when a driver is a certain number of miles per hour over the speed limit. He said the city set the speed cameras at that same standard, but is giving an extra 1-2 mph buffer in case of calibration differences between city radar and camera radar. The goal? No one gets a citation from a camera if they wouldn’t be eligible for a ticket from a officer.

Safety vs. revenue

The National Motorists Association, a drivers’ rights group opposed to automated speed enforcement, believes camera citations take away a police officer’s chance to witness an incident and immediately interface with the driver to learn any special circumstances, according to Gary Biller, executive director of the group.

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Current cameras

*Shows all times camera recorded alleged speeder from July 31-Aug. 16. Dayton police rejected 872 of those 4,540 cases.
Location	Incidents*
Gettysburg Avenue at Cornell Drive	598
Gettysburg Avenue, near Beerman/Fairbanks	1,886
Keowee Street between Fourth/Bacon	1,581
U.S. 35 at Abbey Avenue	474