DC Suburb Backs Down on Speed Cameras

[stalwani]

A large county adjacent to Washington, D.C., is reversing plans to set up fixed-location speed-enforcement cameras near schools.

Prince George's County (Md.) Executive Jack B. Johnson said he nixed the plan for 100 cameras in school zones over the next two years because they would be an "extra tax" on drivers and also be very unpopular, the Gazette.net reported.

Instead, county police will use mobile cameras--in or on vans--as needed in school zones, the paper reported.

Counties and municipalities in Maryland may install the cameras in construction and school zones, according to legislation passed in 2009. Prince George's County leads the state in in pedestrian deaths and fatal vehicle crashes.

"I talked to average citizens about it," Johnson said, according the paper. "They feel it's just a way of taking money out of citizens' pockets."

The blog Greater Greater Washington, which takes a critical look at automobile-centric policies, said Johnson "caved to the anti-enforcement backlash."

The complete Gazette report, with plenty of background, is here.

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