More details have emerged on the speed camera installations that the city has awarded to a Lanham company OptoTraffic in last Tuesday’s council session.
After a 30-day warning-only grace period, motorists who pass a speed camera more than 12 miles per hour over the posted speed limit will receive a $40 ticket. If the city’s camera earnings add up to 10 percent of its budget — which typically totals around $13 million — any additional ticket revenue starts to go to the state instead. Until that point, College Park will receive $24 from each ticket. Optotraffic takes the rest but is fully responsible for installing and maintaining the cameras.
Cameras will likely be installed along Paint Branch Parkway and Greenbelt Road, and possibly on stretches of University Boulevard and Rhode Island Avenue.
In tonight’s session, the Council will consider an ordinance to establish school zones for the purpose of authorizing the use of speed cameras in those zones. Two school zones will be established relevant to north College Park – a school zone within a 1/2-mile radius around Hollywood Elementary School and one around Berwyn Christian. This will allow the City to place speed cameras on any part of Rhode Island Ave. south of the Beltway down to Route 193, and on most of US 1 in North College Park. Also, the City will establish any area within a 1/2-mile around the University of Maryland as a school zone – this will include University Blvd. and Greenbelt Road from the University to the City boundaries, and most of the major roads in the south part of the City.
[Source, The Diamondback, NCP listserve]