OPINION:
Speed cameras in Washington are raking in greenbacks at a furious pace. In just three months, the notorious automated trap on Interstate 295 near the Naval Research Lab issued 20,641 tickets, according to WTOP radio. With fines averaging $200 each, that’s $16 million over the course of a year.
With 213 speed cameras, 43 red-light cameras and 33 stop-sign cameras, the last thing District drivers can afford to see is another automated ticketing machine in their rearview mirror. But Washington’s appetite for our money isn’t easily satisfied. Earlier this year, City Council Member Brianne K. Nadeau proposed “noise cameras” as a new municipal revenue source.
As detailed in a public hearing in March, Ms. Nadeau wants to hire a contractor to set up a microphone-equipped roadside device that snaps a photo if a car drives by while the machine detects a loud sound in the vicinity.
The idea appeals to neighborhood busybodies who find joy in “sticking it” to the inconsiderate drivers of hot rods who modify their exhaust systems to raise a clamor as they accelerate past. Others would also fall into this trap.
Workers just getting by might not have enough cash to repair a leaky exhaust system. Or vulnerable motorcyclists might make a bit of extra noise to avoid being flattened by the distracted driver who’s busy texting the City Council demanding something be done about the bad road habits of others.
In terms of disturbing quiet neighborhoods, ground-based vehicles are nothing compared to rattle-inducing helicopters that regularly transit the city. Of course, nobody is joyriding in the nation’s most tightly controlled airspace. Aside from flights to and from the White House, the most common din-producers in the sky are the Park Police, Metropolitan Police Department, and trauma patients being flown to a hospital.
A better way to cut down on the cacophony would be to have police pursue actual criminals and tell prosecutors to put them in jail. This would help silence the gunshots, alarms, sirens and medevac flights. Noise cameras create the opposite of serenity.
Road and Track magazine recently chronicled the ordeal of an innocent New York City driver forced to pay $800 after being falsely accused by a newly installed noise camera while driving home one day.
Rather than give in to injustice, the man commissioned an expert to perform an independent sound-level test that confirmed the car was completely stock and generated no excessive noise. After presenting this evidence in a hearing set up to give the appearance of due process to those challenging the fine, the man was ordered to pay up anyway.
If the black box on the camera says you’re guilty, the magistrate reviewing the city’s evidence has a financial interest in upholding that finding. The for-profit companies that own, install and operate the cameras likewise face no sanction for leveling false accusations. In fact, such accusations just make them more money.
The District talks a lot about equity, but these devices will be placed in areas frequented by low-income drivers, who will continue to bear the greatest share of the burden of automated cash grabs.
Instead of finding new ways to shake down residents, the council ought to spend its energy addressing the city’s biggest problems, starting with crime.
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