Number of speed-camera citations dropping in New Market
May 17—Since the town of New Market began issuing speed-camera citations in its school zone on Main Street in October 2022, the number of citations given has been decreasing, according to data provided by the town.
The cameras are active from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday along the first block of Main Street in New Market, the town wrote in a press release in March.
Citations are issued for speeds of 12 mph over the speed limit of 25 mph. The school speed zone is near New Market Elementary and Middle Schools.
"People are getting the message to slow down," Tommy Dommel, New Market's program administrator for school zone speed safety, wrote in an email.
In the March press release, the town said speeding had dropped and that the program had issued over 8,000 total citations from October 2022 to February 2023.
In October 2022, the town issued 1,889 citations.
The number dropped to 1,574 in November 2022.
The total rose to 1,720 in December 2022, then dropped to 1,476 in January 2023, then 1,235 in Februrary 2023 and 1,195 in March 2023.
The total increased again in April, to 1,330.
New Market has searched for a long time for solutions for speeding in that area.
The New Market Town Council in 2021 approved the ordinance to install the cameras.
The cameras were installed in August 2022.
The town issued warnings without fines to drivers beginning in September, then began issuing fines for speeding on Oct. 11.
In the warning period overall, which ran for a month beginning Sept. 9, about 5,700 violations were captured, Dommel previously told the News-Post. Within the first five days of being enforced, the cameras recorded over 1,000 violations.
The speed camera vendor, Verra Mobility, gets nearly 50% of the money collected, Dommel has said.
The Frederick Police Department reviews the camera images and decides whether a violation has taken place.
For vehicles registered in Maryland, citations must be mailed within 14 days after they are captured on camera, Dommel wrote in an email.
Dommel wrote that the number of two-time violators is 1,077 and the number of those who have violated three or more times is 402, including October 2022 to April 2023.
"As you can see, the rate of recidivism has dropped considerably since the implementation of the program so I would say the cameras have had the desired effect," Dommel wrote.
The citations issued by the camera are civil and the fine is $40. Violations do not add points to a person's driving record.
Signs alert drivers as to their presence, the town's press release says.
