Posted 3/27/2006 05:08:00 PM by Douglas

Traffic cameras are used to procure revenue, not to enforce traffic laws. Imagine that.

Maryland drivers receive the bulk of the citations every month from the District's automated traffic-enforcement system, which has generated more than $135 million in fines since 1999.

More than 64 percent of drivers cited last month were from Maryland, as the District's automated speed-enforcement program collected $2.8 million in fines, statistics compiled by the Metropolitan Police Department show.

About 20 percent of violators were from the District, while drivers from Virginia made up 9 percent of the total, statistics show. Drivers from other states made up about 7 percent of the violators.

Meanwhile, the percentage of speeding motorists is the lowest in the program's history. Statistics show that 2 percent of the 2,735,983 motorists monitored in the District were caught speeding last month -- the lowest percentage since the speed cameras were introduced in 2001.

To my readers from Virginia and Maryland, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. It's stupid, but it's not going away.

Also, I must admit, before Texas said that cameras were OK, I enjoyed accelerating up to the "speed limit / your speed" radar guns set up by local cops. It really was like trying to hit the high score on a video game. Now? Not so much.