New York Ave. camera a top earner

A six-lane highway bordered by two service roads with no homes, schools, churches or hospitals nearby generated more automated speeding citations and fines than any other area in the District’s photo-radar program last month.

The photo-radar enforcement zone in the 2800 block of New York Avenue NE produced 13,200 speeding citations, or 16.5 percent of the 80,000 citations issued in the city last month, according to Metropolitan Police Department statistics. The speed limit on the stretch is 40 mph.

At $30 per citation — the minimum fine under the photo-radar program — the zone generated at least $396,000 worth of fines.

What’s more, five of the District’s 65 photo-radar enforcement zones last month accounted for more than half of the 80,000 vehicles cited for speeding and more than $1 million in fines.

The five zones — the 2800 block of New York Avenue NE, two locations on the Anacostia Parkway, the 100 block of Michigan Avenue NE and the 4600 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE — caught 42,955 speeding vehicles last month, according to Metropolitan Police statistics. Those zones produced at least $1.28 million in speeding citations last month.

The District issued more than $2 million in speeding citations last month and has collected more than $47 million in fines since implementing its photo-radar program in 2001.

City officials have said that safety, not revenue, is the driving force behind the automated traffic enforcement program — even though Mayor Anthony A. Williams acknowledged in September 2002 that revenue is a factor in the program.

Kevin P. Morison, spokesman for Metropolitan Police Chief Charles A. Ramsey, told The Washington Times that the mayor’s office does not direct the placement of speeding cameras.

“I know that it’s a difficult concept for some people to believe, but decisions of deployment are driven by safety, not revenue,” Mr. Morison said. “We’re not directed by the mayor’s office [concerning camera locations].”

Tony Bullock, spokesman for the mayor, agreed. “The general premise is that the purpose of the cameras is for modifying [drivers’] behavior. If the cameras weren’t doing their job, then we would phase them out.”

Many of the speeding-camera enforcement zones lie in areas of heavy pedestrian traffic.

For instance, the District’s newest speeding camera was activated Feb. 26 in the 600 block of Florida Avenue NE near the entrance of Gallaudet University, the country’s only university for the hearing impaired. The stationary photo-radar camera caught 6,707 speeders in the 25 mph zone between March 28 and April 19, racking up at least $201,210 in fines.

But several speeding enforcement zones that produce the most citations and fines lie in areas of little to no pedestrian traffic.

For example, the New York Avenue NE zone is the outbound side of Route 50, about a quarter-mile east of Bladensburg Road. It stretches past a warehouse, the National Arboretum and The Washington Times’ plant, each of which is accessed from a service road separated from the highway.

A jersey barrier separates the inbound and outbound lanes. There are no traffic lights, crosswalks or sidewalks — no schools, churches, homes or hospitals are nearby. Just beyond the D.C. line, the speed limit climbs to 45 mph and then 55 mph.

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