Tuesday, September 15, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
If you’ve been caught speeding numerous times by the police department’s new radar guns, here’s some good news: You’re only going to get one citation.
Well, at first.
But after Wednesday, when the first 30 days of active speed enforcement concludes, you’ll get a citation every time the radar guns catch you going too fast.
In an email to city Deputy Law Director Anthony Donofrio, Annette Campbell, an official with Optotraffic, the Maryland company processing the speeding citations, wrote: “If a driver were to get caught multiple times in the first 30 days they would only receive one violation. This is to allow for behavior change when they receive the violation.”
The decision to give only one citation in the first 30 days, which began Aug. 18, is an Optotraffic policy.
Optotraffic provided three radar guns to the city, mailing the citations and keeping 35 percent of the fees.
Mayor John A. McNally and Police Chief Robin Lees said the company’s policy is fair.
“I think that’s reasonable,” McNally said.
“People have been concerned about how many notices they’d get. Over the weekend, people said, ‘I’m waiting for my five tickets to come in the mail.’ This is a little less punitive, and less of what some people call a ‘money grab.’”
The Optotraffic email said that 158 warnings were issued and have been mailed as of Friday to those caught speeding during a trial period between July 15 and Aug. 17.
As of Friday, 421 violations also were mailed.
There was confusion at the police department as to how many citations and warnings were given to motorists. The email clears that up.
Not including the warnings, about 1,850 speeding citations were recorded by the radar guns as of Sunday.
Because some photos taken aren’t clear enough to make out license plates, and some earlier pictures were taken of oncoming traffic so those without front license plates – such as motorcycles and Pennsylvania vehicles – can’t be traced, an undisclosed amount of citations will not be issued.
The citations are being mailed 14 to 30 days after motorists are caught by the radar guns.
The new system allows police officers to point the radar guns at cars and have civil-fee citations issued rather than stopping speeders and giving them moving-violation tickets with a fine and points on their driving records.
“We’re looking for compliance and not looking to give out multiple tickets, so it’s fair to do this,” Lees said of the one citation per person during the first 30 days.
Based on new data, about 850 people were cited for speeding during the first 10 days of using the new equipment, then 700 were cited between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 with 300 cited between Sept. 5 and Sunday.
The number of multiple offenders isn’t available from Optotraffic, and the city still is working with the company to honor a records request from The Vindicator seeking the names of those issued citations.
Speeders face civil penalties – $100 for those driving up to 13 mph over the speed limit, $125 for 14 to 19 mph over the limit, and $150 for those driving at least 20 mph over the limit.
The department is focusing its speed-gun effort on school zones and highways to reduce speed and increase safety, Lees said.
Interstate 680 between South Avenue and Meridian Road, where the limit is 50 mph, is where the speed guns primarily are being used.
The speed guns also are being used on state Route 711, which has a 55-mph speed limit, and in a 40-mph construction zone on the Himrod Expressway.
“Things have slowed down on the freeway,” Lees said.
“We’ve reached our goal of getting people to slow down.”
A print-out of citations and warnings given to The Vindicator last week as part of a public-records request showed that the slowest speed to get a citation on I-680 was 62 mph, 12 mph over the limit.
In school zones with 20-mph limits, the slowest speed to get a citation was 30 mph.
The 11-mph cushion on highways is apparently a common practice for Optotraffic.
In a Dec. 16, 2013, post on its Facebook page, the company compared its cameras with those used by police in its home state of Maryland, writing that Optotraffic’s “speed camera enforcement allows for a higher tolerance. Drivers must be exceeding the speed limit by at least 12 miles per hour to receive a speed camera citation.”