Most speeding fines get zapped, but others warned

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Those objecting to civil speeding citations fared well at the initial hearing with a hearing officer letting all but one go without having to pay a fee.

And the lone person who had to pay at Wednesday’s hearing had two citations. Gene Fehr, the hearing officer, dismissed one and reduced payment on the other from $125 to $25.

But others shouldn’t expect the same treatment, Fehr said.

“Because this is our first proceeding, we’re trying to be lenient and dismiss them,” he said toward the end of Wednesday’s hearing. “In the future, we may not be so lenient. We want people to be safe. The media’s been pretty good about [publicizing this], but because it’s early, we’re dismissing the cases.”

Twenty-four people were scheduled at the initial hearing, but only eight showed. Of the rest, nine people failed to appear – and will get another letter in the mail to pay the fine – and the remaining seven paid their fees rather than attend the hearing.

“This was more of a warning,” Fehr told The Vindicator after the hearing. “These are our first appeals” dating to shortly after Aug. 18 when enforcement went into full effect.

Cara Carramusa of Poland admits she was going 70 mph in a 50 mph zone on Interstate 680 on Aug. 26. But she argued there weren’t enough signs giving motorists the proper warning about the handheld speed cameras.

“It’s such a new process, and people didn’t know about it,” she said.

That defense was used by a few others.

But Lt. William Ross, head of the city’s traffic unit, which operates the speed-gun program, said the city is in full compliance with the law on signs by posting them on major roads leading into the city, and having a monthlong warning period. The city is working with the state to have signs posted on interstates, he said.

“We’re not required to have a sign on every single road,” he said to one person contesting the citation. “It would cost us $10,000 for signage.”

The best reason given during the hearing came from a doctor who said he was driving too fast because he was on his way to the hospital to deliver a baby.

A few cited for speeding in school zones said either they weren’t speeding or were driving past schools when class wasn’t in session.

Kathy Naples of Poland said she was driving on South Schenley Avenue at 6:54 a.m. Aug. 25 going 35 mph in a 35 mph zone.

“I thought I was within the speed limit,” she said.

Another motorist said he was traveling faster than the 20 mph limit in a school zone at 3:35 p.m. but that classes are finished there at 2:20 p.m.

At the hearing, Ross pointed out that police are monitoring school zones an hour before they open and an hour after they close and the reduced speed is still in effect at those times.

The hearings will be weekly for at least the next few weeks, Fehr said. Once he catches up with the appeals, he said he’ll have hearings once or twice a month.

As of last Friday, the most recent date for civil speeding statistics, 119 people had filed appeals.

Since the program began Aug. 18 and through last Friday, 4,006 people have been cited for speeding based on statistics kept by The Vindicator.

The city ticketed 960 people for speeding all of last year.

As of last Friday, 1,907 – almost half of those cited – have paid. Using $125 for an average citation, that’s $238,375 collected with the city getting about $154,944 and Optotraffic, the Maryland company who provided the speed guns and process and mail citations, keeping $83,431. The city gets 65 percent of the proceeds from the citations with Optotraffic keeping 35 percent.

Police officers use the radar guns to monitor the speed of vehicles and issue civil-fee citations instead of stopping drivers and giving them moving-violation tickets with a fine and points on their driver’s licenses.

Those getting citations are driving at least 12 mph over the speed limit on highways and at least 10 mph over the limit in construction zones, Ross said. Data from the department also shows that citations are given to those driving at least 10 mph over the limit in school zones.

The most-common location to get a citation is on Interstate 680 between South Avenue and Meridian Road, where the speed limit is 50 mph.