We’re at a good place with 680

After a few weeks of publicity and mailings and fines, I think Interstate 680 is right where most reasonable folks would say it should be.

It will, however, take a few more weeks for routines and feelings to adjust – as well as budgets.

Here’s one email of the many I received:

“Todd, I received two citations for speeding on 680 – first was a warning and second was an actual fine of $100. Both were issued the same day three minutes apart. A $100 fine to me is like $500 to most.

“I’m single, struggling to pay bills and even restart a 401K I have not been able to put money in for years.

“So, any extra money is now not going for startup of a 401K, but rather to speeding tickets. I understand if we speed excessively, one should be fined. However, when you are keeping up with morning commute traffic and get ticketed – twice – I find that excessive.

“All I can say is I PRAY I don’t receive any more citations – seriously. I truly CAN’T afford it.”

That’s been a consistent theme in the emails, Facebook posts and Tweets we have received since our coverage began in earnest three weeks ago.

The speeding ticket program is now our No. 2 most-read online story of all time. (Traficant tractor accident, No. 1). The community messages were 96 percent against the program.

I’m glad for the effect The Vindicator coverage has had – even if it means I’m off the police chief’s Christmas card list.

I-680 – as it curves and winds through the city – is now a much slower and safer ride. I drive it three to five times per week, and it is noticeably slower to even the most pedestrian eye. I’ve heard that observation at least 20 times.

It was much needed.

Crash data gathered by state and local officials for Mahoning County show that 680 generates more accidents than I-80 and Ohio 711. In some years, that’s a true statistic even when the latter two roads are combined.

In 2013, 680 had 123 crashes (40 tagged as severe, with two fatalities).

I-80 had 77 wrecks (19 severe, 0 fatals); 711 had 41 wrecks (15 severe).

While the stretch of I-80 through Mahoning is just 4 miles long compared with 680’s 7-mile length, the volume of traffic on I-80 is more than on 680, yet there are more wrecks on the latter.

So slower is better here – even as we speed up the nation’s straightaway highways.

I like, too, where the program is, where it’s gotten to and where it’s headed.

Tickets on 680 are for surpassing 61 mph. That is a fair speed. It’s 12 mph above the announced 50 mph. Most people born after Prohibition would agree 50 mph is too slow.

The camera company and the city reached some plan that in the first 30 days of citations (through this past Wednesday), speeders would get just one fine – even if they got caught three, five or 15 times. It’s been vague why they came to this plan. I suspect that the public reaction thus far is so strong that outrage would only be worse when The Vindy reports that the rumored $300,000 per month actually becomes a true $400,000. Creating this grace period will mean less income and less appearance of greed by both the city and the camera company.

Excessive speeders, when possible, are getting pulled over for old-school tickets – which means points on a license and added insurance costs.

The city and the state are talking about posting signs on 680 and 711 warning drivers of the program. As of now, the city only has to post signs at city borders, such as next to those “Home of State Champions” signs. They are not obligated to alert where the program is enforced.

I have a few takeaways:

The city could have implemented this better, and I hear that often, especially from folks who said 680 is a racetrack.

A daily maximum of citations still seems a prudent measure so as not to make it look like greed and a cash grab. That’s just a poor image for a city, and I love where the city is at with downtown, and entertainment and the university.

The chief told reporter Dave Skolnick that the volume of tickets even surprised him. I’m not sure why. They know the road; they knew the impact of the technology and they knew how much officer time would go into this.

Put an NFL lineman up against a Pop Warner player – the result is clear before anyone says “hike.”

A $400,000 initial monthly haul (or $5 million per year at that clip) would have been a nightmare for a city wanting desperately for people to like it and invest in it.

This is a good program that needed more communication. A daily or weekly city Tweet or Facebook post about the ticketing totals of the new program would have appeared more habit-changing and less sniperlike – just like when police announce OVI checkpoints.

We’re only at this point of awareness and public knowledge because of the daily newspaper and Skolnick.

His original story about 1,000 citations in 12 days – an amount equal to all of 2014 – wasn’t from a city press release or a city press conference. It was just a passing comment he heard as he was leaving a city meeting on beggars.

Imagine that? We went to a story on beggars and ended up with one of the most-read, most-shared stories in Vindy.com history.

Left unchecked and unreported, how long would 1,000 citations every 12 days have continued? And how much would a single, struggling driver with no 401K have paid into this?

Skolnick’s grab on that aside hallway comment is a journalistic skill and a nuance that changes people and policies.

That’s the cool power of local journalism that Youngstown is quickly losing as the advertising economy slides to YouTube, Facebook and Google. None of those digital giants delivers such awareness for the community.

With this new speeding program, we all may not agree with how we got to this place – whether we’re people or police.

But I think we’re at a good place now.

And I say that knowing I have one ticket coming my way.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. Email him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.