Speed cameras now in New Market, but fines won't start until October
Sep. 2—Speed cameras were installed in the town of New Market last week, but motorists will not have to worry about fines until October.
School zone speed cameras were installed last week on Main Street from the first block to the 100 block.
They will be activated Sept. 9, but only warnings will be issued for speeding violations in the first 30 days, according to a town news release. After that, a violation will carry a fine of $40, but add no points to the driver's license.
The cameras will be operational Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The town council began moving toward this day more than a year ago. Citing years of speeding concerns, the council in March 2021 approved an ordinance to allow for cameras.
Thomas Dommel is the speed camera program administrator.
"To increase safety in and around school zones, the Town of New Market has implemented a school zone speed safety program," he wrote in an email. "The objective of the program is to slow motorists down and change driver behavior, making the community safer as drivers obey the posted speed limits."
The Frederick Police Department will review camera footage and give approval to issue warnings and citations. Dommel will also take part in the approval process.
The New Market Town Council approved a memorandum of understanding in January to work with FPD to execute the program.
The cameras, provided by Verra Mobility, can be moved within a certain radius of schools.
The speed limit in the affected area is 25 mph. Citations will be issued to vehicles traveling 12 mph or more above the limit, according to Dommel.
Citations will be mailed to the registered vehicle owner from Verra Mobility.
Dommel's responsibilities as administrator include overseeing the program on a daily basis, monitoring the schedule and budget, and gathering data.
The town has guidelines for how it can use money collected from fines.
The money must first be used to recover costs of the speed camera program, and the rest has to go toward public safety, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration's website.
If the fines collected exceed 10 percent of a town's annual revenue for that fiscal year after recovering speed camera program costs, the leftover money must be remitted to the state comptroller and placed in the general fund of the state, SHA's website states.
New Market Mayor Winslow Burhans III said speeding on Main Street has been a problem for a long time. He has photos of vehicle crashes dating back roughly 20 years.
"It's just nuts," he said in an interview Thursday.
Burhans was not a proponent of speed cameras in the past. Now, he feels the town has exhausted all other methods, like with directional alleys, parking bollards and pleas on Facebook to slow down. Nothing seemed to work, he said.
Burhans emphasized the program is not a "money grab." In fact, he hopes the program "fails" one day because of motorists obeying the speed limit.
"I hope it does as much as it can to eliminate speeding problems" and other traffic concerns, Burhans said.
"At the end of the day," the mayor said, "I think it's the right thing to do."
Follow Mary Grace Keller on Twitter: @MaryGraceKeller
