Council Set to Vote on Speed Camera Locations

Speeders beware. Hyattsville could soon be using automated speed cameras to catch your crimes against velocity. The City Council is set to give an up or down vote at its next meeting on Monday to approve the placement of at least four speed cameras along roads in Hyattsville. 

City officials have been considering implementing a speed camera program for at least a year. 

The program would be run by the Hyattsville City Police Department. The cameras will only snap your photo if it catches you traveling more than 12mph above the speed limit. 

The police propose four cameras to be located on the westbound 3300 block of East West Highway, the northbound 5900 block of Ager Road, the westbound 3700 block of East West Highway and the southbound 7000 block of Adelphi Road. 

The police also propose six additional secondary sites for the portable camera units to be located; the northbound 4900 block of Rhode Island Avenue, the eastbound 3300 block of East West Highway, the southbound 5800 block of Baltimore Avenue, the northbound 5900 block of Ager Road and the northbound 5400 block of Baltimore Avenue. 

The city projects that each camera will issue an average of 50 tickets per day in the first year the program goes live. At $40 a ticket, that translates into roughly $2 million in fines issued by the city in the first year of the program. That income is expected to slump significantly in the second year of the program as local motorists become more wise to the camera's and their locations.  

For every $40 fine issued, the city will only see $23.75. The remaining $16.25 goes to the company which operates the cameras. 

To support the program, the polic department also recommends the immediate hiring of a new sergeant to manage the speed camera program and the police department's technological efforts in other areas.