Speed Camera News 2 Mobile Speed Cameras In Baltimore Set On Fire; Police Looking For Suspect
(Thanks to War on Driving for the link).
2 Mobile Speed Cameras In Baltimore Set On Fire; Police Looking For Suspect
January 13, 2012 11:20 PM
Reporting Andrea Fujii
BALTIMORE (WJZ)– Speed cameras set on fire. Baltimore police are searching for the person who torched two cameras in three days.
Andrea Fujii has the investigation and the growing anger over speed cameras.
Mobile speed cameras take pictures of cars going 12 miles or more above the speed limit. They are meant to catch speeders but they also spark outrage which may have caused someone to light two of them on fire.
“We want people to know that if you do plan to damage any of the cameras you will be held fully responsible,” Adrienne Barnes of the Baltimore City Department of Transportation said.
Both incidents happened in the 1200 block of Howard Street– one on Wednesday morning, the other on Friday.
Investigators now have both cameras but the burn marks are still visible.
Police say some type of accelerant was used to light the boxes. It’s not clear how much damage was done to them but WJZ is told they will be replaced.
This isn’t the first act of violence toward speed cameras.
In July, a man attacked a state speed camera vehicle on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway with its operater still inside.
And in College Park, residents rallied to have their cameras removed.
In the City, drivers have mixed feelings on them.
“They’re annoying but you’re not supposed to be speeding.”
“I’m not happy with them. It’s just another way to raise money.”
But data shows the cameras are working since their implementation in 2009.
“Right now, we do see a decrease in some of the cameras that we’ve put up earlier that it is changing driver behavior,” Barnes said.
There are eight mobile speed cameras around the City, mainly around school zones. They rotate between 65 different locations.
Police describe the suspect as an adult male 5’5″ tall. For a complete list of speed camera locations in the City, click here.
Ban the Cams note:
Don't you just love it when the scaemra side "points" to less speeding "violations" as "proof" safety is "improving".
People know a scam when they see one.
Accidents CAUSED by excededing a speed imit (not speed related which would count accidents where the speed DIDN'T casue the accident, but logged in because the driver was 1 mph over a limit) are typical 4% or less. Check out this article on one town's HIGHLY DUBIOUS speed scamera "safety" claim.
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/05/538.asp
Quote:
According to Smith, the accident data show that only about four percent of accidents on the M4 were actually caused by exceeding a posted limit. The documents rated the most and least important contributory factors as a percentage of accidents on the M4, as follows:
1.Inattention: 28%
2.Failure to judge others' path or speed (i.e. poor lane-changing): 28%
3.Lack of judgment of own path: 17%
4.Fatigue: 14%
5.Careless, thoughtless or reckless behavior:14%
6.Excess speed for conditions: 14%
7.Exceeding posted speed limit: 4.2% (SafeSpeed estimate)
also see: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/lie.html
also see: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/19/1992.asp Quote: "UK government report shows exceeding speed limits contributed to only three percent of accidents in 2006."
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