Sun coverage: Speed cameras
To investigate the proliferation of speed cameras in the Baltimore region over the past three years, The Sun obtained detailed citation data from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and the State Highway Administration, which oversees the state's highway work zones.
The public records requests yielded data on more than 2 million government-issued citations, including the date, location, tag number and recorded speed for each. The Sun could then, for example, track trends at certain locations and document multiple ticket recipients.
Howard County, the only other area government that uses speed cameras, refused to provide comparable data with license tag numbers. Its lawyers cited a provision of state law that the other jurisdictions did not see as a barrier to releasing tag numbers.
Read the first story in the series: "City's lucrative speed camera program dogged by problems"
State board finds speed camera task force violated open-meetings act
A task force appointed last year by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to study the city's speed and red-light camera program violated Maryland law when it met behind closed doors in March, the state Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled this week. Read more ...
Behind the scenes of a decision to shut down speed cameras
The emailed directive went out midmorning April 16 from a Baltimore City traffic engineer: No more speed camera tickets are to be issued from the camera in the 3900 block of The Alameda. Less than five hours later, an engineering supervisor wrote another email, stating that the city's entire speed and red-light camera network was being suspended. Read more ...
City issued 16,000 speed camera tickets in six weeks
Baltimore issued more than 16,000 speed camera tickets in less than two months this year before shutting the troubled program down over a programming error, according to figures posted by the city. Read more ...
City to void more than 6,000 camera tickets
Baltimore City said Tuesday that it will throw out more than 6,000 speed and red-light camera tickets because its former contractor has stopped showing up in court to defend them — the latest sign of the dysfunction dogging Baltimore's speed camera program. Read more ...
City suspends speed camera tickets amid new mistakes
Baltimore officials announced Tuesday that they have suspended the city's troubled speed camera program amid fresh reports of erroneous tickets, this time involving a new multimillion-dollar camera network. Read more ...
City approves new speed cameras, towing contracts
The city's Board of Estimates on Wednesday formally approved an overhaul of the city's speed cameras and the replacement of a police-towing company accused of overcharging customers. Read more ...
Speed camera bill dies in General Assembly session's final hours
Legislation that would have placed stricter limits on where local governments could put speed cameras and required them to appoint ombudsmen to hear complaints died in the General Assembly Monday night. Read more ...
Open meetings complaint filed against speed camera panel
Three members of an anti-speed camera group have filed an open-meetings complaint against a task force appointed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to study Baltimore's troubled automated enforcement system. Read more ...
Baltimore delegates rebuke city over speed camera woes
Baltimore-bashing is nothing new in Annapolis, whether from representatives of rural counties or the Washington suburbs who believe the city gets more than its fair share of state resources. But when it comes to the city’s well-publicized speed camera problems, some of the sharpest criticism has been meted out by Baltimore’s own House of Delegates contingent. Read more ...
Speed camera bill up for Senate vote
The state Senate could vote as soon as Tuesday to bar the state and local governments from paying speed camera contractors based on ticket volume and to require that all automated speeding tickets issued in Maryland give drivers enough information to fact-check their citations. Read more ...
Howard police say speed camera program is working
The Howard County Police school zone speed camera program has reduced speeding in 65 percent of school zone roadways and resulted in 25,000 citations since it began in October 2011, according to a report issued by police. Read more ...
City's new speed camera company says it lost money during rocky start
Baltimore's new speed camera company says it took in $18 million in revenue last year — a nearly 10 percent increase from 2011 — but still lost money, thanks in part to a rocky start in the city. Read more ...
City mum on speed camera ticket tally since Jan. 1
How many speed camera tickets has Baltimore City issued so far this year? How many red-light camera tickets? City officials won't say. Read more ...
Circuit judge rules Baltimore Co. speed camera contract is illegal
A Circuit Court judge has ruled that Baltimore County's contract with its speed camera vendor is illegal, because it pays the company a cut of each citation issued — a ruling that could help others challenge their citations in court. Read more ...
Annapolis speed camera enforcement expected to start Friday
Anne Arundel County government hasn't supported the installation of speed cameras, but beginning Friday one slice of the county will have them anyway. Read more ...
Baltimore to pay firm $278,000 to monitor speed cameras
Baltimore officials on Wednesday hired a private company to oversee an overhaul of the city's speed and red light camera system — and audit tickets to ensure accuracy. Read more ...
Motorist pushes city to refund erroneous speed camera ticket
For Joe Stumpf, it appears persistence has paid off: The city has promised to refund him the $40 fine he paid after receiving an erroneous speed camera ticket. Read more ...
Local governments, police resist speed camera changes
Local governments and police on Wednesday attacked a sweeping proposal to change Maryland's speed camera law. Read more ...
New speed cameras won't eliminate errors, radar experts say
Baltimore transportation officials have set high expectations for the city's new speed cameras, telling state lawmakers the devices won't be susceptible to errors that plagued the system over the past three years. Read more ...
Emails show City Hall's behind-the-scenes response to speed camera coverage
Email exchanges obtained through the Public Information Act offer a glimpse at how the Rawlings-Blake’s administration has responded behind the scenes to The Baltimore Sun’s ongoing coverage of problems with the city’s speed cameras. Read more ...
Police to double number of officers reviewing speed camera tickets
Baltimore police officials said Thursday the department is doubling to 25 the number of officers available to review speed camera tickets — one of several moves intended to help prevent the issuance of erroneous citations, which has cast a cloud over the city's program in recent months. Read more ...
Troubled transition shuts down city speed cameras
Baltimore's speed and red light camera system has experienced a near-complete shutdown during what city officials are calling a problematic transition to a new contractor, records show, and the new vendor says it could take four months to get its system running. Read more ...
State Highway Administration defends speed camera program
The controversy over whether to change Maryland's three-year-old speed camera law arrived in Annapolis Tuesday, with some lawmakers calling for accountability and the State Highway Administration touting the value of its program. Read more ...
Baltimore replacing entire speed camera system
Baltimore officials said Monday they are scrapping all 83 of the city's automated speed cameras and "methodically" replacing them with newer models, after a Baltimore Sun investigation found errors with the system. Read more ...
Batts pledges 'dramatic' reform of speed camera process
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Friday that his officers' rushed review of speed camera tickets has produced "unacceptable" mistakes and pledged "dramatic" reform of the system, including increased staffing. Read more ...
Assembly to scrutinize speed camera law
Key lawmakers say that Maryland's speed camera law will get a hard look during the coming General Assembly session and that changes are likely. Read more ...
City speed camera 'nightmare' among the year's lows, AAA says
AAA Mid-Atlantic says Baltimore's speed camera "nightmare" was one of the transportation lows of 2012, though the driver advocacy group credited a similar program run by the State Highway Administration with helping to improve safety in construction zones. Read more ...
Residents who paid tickets want full audit of speed cameras
Matthias Manz isn't sure what to do. The Original Northwood resident's family received four speed camera tickets in the past three years and coughed up the $40 fine each time, trusting that the government wouldn't issue bogus citations. Now, with the revelation that some cameras have issued more than 5 percent of their tickets in error, Manz is wishing he hadn't been so quick to pay. Read more ...
Some city speed cameras have 5% error rate, Xerox says
Baltimore's speed camera contractor disclosed Friday that several of the city's automated cameras have been wrongly ticketing roughly one of every 20 passing cars and trucks. Read more ...
Speed camera violation case is dismissed
A Baltimore lawyer issued a speed camera ticket despite his vehicle being stationary missed his chance to argue his case when the city asked that a Baltimore District Court judge dismiss the case Friday. Read more ...
City issued speed camera ticket to motionless car
The Baltimore City speed camera ticket alleged that the four-door Mazda wagon was going 38 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone — and that owner Daniel Doty owed $40 for the infraction. Read more ...
Md. State Highway speed camera tickets spike overnight
More than 40 percent of all speed camera tickets issued to drivers in Maryland highway work zones have been doled out between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., times when crews often aren’t on the job. Read more ...
O'Malley: Counties should stop paying speed camera contractors per citation
Gov. Martin O'Malley said Tuesday that state law bars speed camera contractors from being paid based on the number of citations issued or paid — a so-called bounty system approach used by Baltimore City, Baltimore County and elsewhere in Maryland. Read more ...
Lawmaker pitches $1,000 penalty for 'bogus' speed camera tickets
Speed camera companies and local governments would be penalized $1,000 for each "bogus" citation issued to motorists under proposed legislation announced Monday by state Del. Jon Cardin. Read more ...
Counties skirt intent of state speed camera law
Federal Hill resident Sean O'Connor wants to fact-check the automated speed camera ticket that he got in Baltimore County. But he can't. Read more ...
Tests fail to identify cause of speed camera errors
Baltimore City's automated traffic enforcement contractor carried out 189 vehicle test runs past a camera on West Cold Spring Lane but could not determine the cause of erroneous speed readings there, the company said in a letter this week to the city Department of Transportation. Read more ...
2 more city speed cameras issuing erroneous tickets
The speed camera ticket that Baltimore City issued to John Slingluff last summer said he was speeding, yet the evidence says he was closer to stopping than to breaking the law. Read more ...
SHA faulted over speed camera audit
Lawmakers chastised the State Highway Administration Wednesday over an audit that criticized the agency's work-zone speed camera program even as officials said that any problems with the program have been resolved. Read more ...
City official worried in July speed camera problems could 'get out of hands'
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. Read more ...
City's lucrative speed camera program dogged by problems
The tractor-trailer hit 70 mph as it passed the Poly-Western high school campus on Cold Spring Lane, barreling down a turn lane at twice the legal speed limit. Or so the $40 citation claimed. Just before Falls Road, a pole-mounted speed camera clocked the truck with radar and snapped some pictures. A ticket soon went out in the mail. Read more ...
Map displays speed camera locations in Baltimore City
Lead-footed drivers, beware. Speed cameras have proliferated across Baltimore in recent years, with 75 now deployed, according to the city's Department of Transportation. That doesn't count eight portable cameras that can be moved around to different school zones. Read more ...
City councilman calls for speed camera hearing
The vice chairman of the City Council's public safety committee called Sunday for a hearing on Baltimore's vast and lucrative speed camera program after an investigation by The Baltimore Sun found that the $40 citations issued to motorists can be inaccurate and the process unfair. Read more ...
New scrutiny for city speed camera
City transportation officials said Thursday they are investigating a second speed camera on West Cold Spring Lane in North Baltimore after more questions were raised about whether it has been issuing inaccurate tickets to motorists. Read more ...
Audit criticizes state highway speed camera program
Maryland's legislative auditors criticized the State Highway Administration for inadequate monitoring of its speed camera program in an audit report released Tuesday, saying the state began using the cameras without conducting sufficient tests to ensure they could accurately record a vehicle's speed. Read more ...
Public employees caught speeding in trash trucks, street sweepers
Turns out the wheels of government move faster than you might think. Read more ...
Baltimore-area speed cameras nail some drivers more than 100 times
Speed cameras have tagged Benjamin Parker's pickup truck 41 times in the Baltimore area over the past three years, records show — enough to have his license suspended 10 times over if those citations had been handed out by a police officer and not a machine. Read more ...
One speed camera gives out 85,000 tickets — and counting
As the traffic signal turned yellow, a silver Honda SUV heading north on South Caton Avenue sped up. It beat the red light, but not before a flash went off as a camera snapped a picture of its license plate. Read more ...
Rawlings-Blake wants zero speed camera errors
As criticism of Baltimore's speed camera system mounted for a second day Monday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she would not tolerate a single erroneous ticket issued by the cameras under her administration. Read more ...
How the speed camera series was reported
Baltimore Sun staff writers Scott Calvert and Luke Broadwater spent more than six months investigating the proliferation of speed cameras in the Baltimore region over the past three years. Read more ...
Top Baltimore area speed camera ticket locations from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012
Top Baltimore area speed camera ticket locations from July 2011 through June 2012 Read more ...
Baltimore-area school buses rack up hundreds of speed camera tickets
Automated speed cameras, installed around area schools three years ago with the goal of punishing dangerous drivers and making the streets safer for children, have caught hundreds of school buses speeding near the schools they serve, often with children aboard, a Baltimore Sun analysis has found. Read more ...
Officials pledge to monitor school bus speed camera tickets
School officials in Baltimore and Baltimore County pledged Thursday to track, for the first time, automated camera citations that are issued to privately owned school buses hired to transport public-school children. Read more ...
Interactive map: Speed cameras catching school buses
Automated speed cameras, installed around area schools three years ago with the goal of punishing dangerous drivers and making the streets safer for children, have caught hundreds of school buses speeding near the schools they serve, often with children aboard, a Baltimore Sun analysis has found. Read more ...
Have you received a speed camera citation? Talk with us.
Gotten a speed camera ticket in the Baltimore area? We want to hear from you. The Sun recently published an investigation of Baltimore City’s speed camera program, and we’d like to talk to people who’ve received tickets in the Baltimore region – whether in the city, surrounding counties or state highway work zones. Contact reporter Scott Calvert at scalvert@baltsun.com. Read more ...
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