Hyattsville Speed Cams Could Go Live Soon

If Hyattsville officials can work out the details with state and county officials, speed cameras operated by the city of Hyattsville could become operational within a month, according to Hyattsville Police Chief Doug Holland. The Hyattsville City Council approved the municipal speed camera program this past April. 

Holland, speaking during last night's mid-year budget reports and departmental performance evaluations, said that the city still had to work out a memorandum of understanding with Prince George's County and the State Highway Administration officials over the placement of the cameras. 

According to Mayor Marc Tartaro, the State Highway Administration has so far not allowed the city to place speed cameras on Route 1 and East West Highway within the half-mile diameter school zone surrounding Hyattsville Elementary School and Nicholas Orem Middle School, respectively.

City officials still hope to be able to install and operate speed cameras planned for the 5900 block of Ager Road and the 7000 block of Adelphi Road.

Once live, the cameras will issue only warnings for the first 30 days of operation. After that, the cameras will begin issuing tickets to motorists traveling more than 12mph above the speed limit. 

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.