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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Local Governments Turning Red Lights Into Green

Red light cameras are pulling in big dollars for local governments in the Washington, D.C., area, according to new data from AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Red light camera programs in cities like D.C. and Rockville, and Montgomery, Prince George's and Arlington counties raked in $21 million combined in 2013, the data show.

Montgomery County, Maryland saw the biggest boost. In 2012, its 22,616 tickets pulled in $1,919,602 in ticket revenue; in 2013, that number jumped to $2,806,690 with 43,522 tickets issued -- a 94 percent increase.

As of March, the county has earned $2,805,125 from 46,109 red light runners. That puts them on course to shatter last year's total, thanks in part to 10 new cameras.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just another way the government steals your money.

As I refuse to let that happen to me and have not gotten a ticket yet, I still see the fools zip by me.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a lot of revenue until you dig deeper. Take Montgomery County for instance. The PD had to form a unit dedicated to reviewing and signing off on all the camera citations issued. Then they opened a Safe Walk-In Payment Center which costs a lot of money to man and upkeep as well. They hide these costs in their budgets and citizens are none the wiser and only see the revenue. Bottom line is there is very little revenue generated by these cameras unless you count the economic boost by having to hire more government employees.

Anonymous said...

After watching a woman cruise right through a stop sign in front of me, this morning. It is apparent we need this kind of enforcement.

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping to make some money off those cameras. As soon as I see the light change yellow, I jam on my brakes. When I get hit by the vehicle behind me, I'm gonna find a good PI lawyer and sue everyone.

Anonymous said...

I can't stand big brother watching.

This is a Democrat ploy to get more spending money. How about worrying about cutting spending.

Anonymous said...

Mike Lewis put these in our county...Put them in bad hoods and lock up the bad guys so we can safely walk the streets.

Anonymous said...

Salisbury used to have the Red Light program. Barrie couldn't even make THAT profitable. What does that tell ya?

Anonymous said...

11:34 No money to be made in the hood. They would never get paid.

Anonymous said...

i'd like to see the cost from the
accidents caused by these cameras.
i have seen many rear enders in b-more with cars all torn up. and i'm not there that often, and only day trips.

Anonymous said...

They'll be in Princess Anne on U.S. 13 at Mt. Vernon Road or Deal Island Road if the chief has his way.