Saturday, September 26, 2015
518 motorists will face civil penalties
YOUNGSTOWN
There was a 9-percent decline this week in the number of motorists getting speeding citations compared with the previous week: 518 to 570.
But that was largely because officers with radar guns spent less time this week on speeding duty, said Lt. William Ross, the head of the police department’s traffic unit who is in charge of the speed-gun program.
Officers usually spend about 18 to 20 hours a week using the radar guns, but were out for just 15 to 16 hours this week, he said.
“There probably would have been a little more” citations this week than last week if the amount of enforcement time was the same, Ross said.
Overall, officers have “pulled the trigger” 2,829 times with Optotraffic, the Maryland company processing the tickets, rejecting 193 because officials there couldn’t read the license plates on some vehicles.
That left 2,636 citations, though 158 of those were warnings between July 15 and Aug. 17. Enforcement went into effect Aug. 18.
Citations have been mailed to 1,539 vehicle owners with the rest to be mailed shortly by Optotraffic after Ross approves them.
Optotraffic provided the three radar guns and keeps 35 percent of the citation fees.
The 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.
Under state law, a uniformed police officer must use the guns to check speed.
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.
A recent print-out of citations and warnings given to The Vindicator as part of a public-records request showed that the slowest speed to get a citation on Interstate 680 was 62 mph, 12 mph over the limit.
Also, Optotraffic wrote on its Facebook wall that it doesn’t cite motorists on highways until they go 12 mph over the limit.
In school zones with 20-mph limits, the slowest speed to get a citation was 30 mph.
“We divide our time equally between highways and school zones,” Ross said.
“We see more compliance on highways than school zones.”
The exception was traffic near Ursuline, which had an compliance issue early on, Ross said, “...but they get the idea now.”
In the past week, officers cited about 70 motorists speeding near Williamson Elementary School on the South Side, he said.
“We give more citations on the highways because the volume of traffic is so much more there,” Ross said.
Among the highways, most of the focus has been on Interstate 680 between South Avenue and Meridian Road, where the speed limit is 50 mph.
Ross said Friday that he doesn’t know how many people are paying the citation fees and how many object.
He will get those numbers from Optotraffic 90 days after the program began, but Ross didn’t know if that means July 15, when the warning program began, or Aug. 18, when enforcement commenced.
Those who object will have their case heard by a hearing officer.
The city’s board of control expects to hire that person at next Thursday’s meeting, said Mayor John A. McNally, the board’s chairman.
It wouldn’t be until November before the appeals are heard, he said.
Additional officers monitoring speed with the guns should be in school zones and highways as soon as Oct. 5, Ross said.