Washington Post: Cameras Reduce Speeding

From the Washington Post

Rockville, Md.: Just based on past performances, I would bet you do not like speed cameras. If so, is it a privacy issue? Is the road a private place?

The Beetles thought so. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road."

Marc Fisher: I can see from past performance, as you put it, why you might think I'd oppose speed cams. My libertarian streak could lead me there. But that's overwhelmed by my desire to get cops out fighting crime rather than doing simple gotcha work that a machine can handle. So I actually love speed cams, especially as I see more and more studies showing that average driving speeds on roads equipped with the cams really do come down quite impressively.

Washington, D.C.: I was surprised to learn that Chevy Chase, Maryland was making so much money off their speed cameras on Connecticut Ave. First that strip was always a speed trap. Now that most people know of the cameras, the speed on that portion of Connecticut has dropped to about 5 mph below the speed limit. The District has a car with a camera on Military Rd. just west of the park that has worked in slowing traffic down in the mornings as well.

Marc Fisher: I am amazed on a regular basis by the number of drivers I see speeding through that trap at 20 or more mph over the limit even though they see the bulk of their fellow motorists slowing to an unnatural crawl all the way through the village. Many of these fools actually weave through the various lanes of relatively law-abiding folks to get their moment in the flash of the speed cam.