This Speed Camera Handed Out $77,550 Worth of Tickets in One Day

A speed camera on Ocean Avenue near a highway off-ramp and
Lincoln High School in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn gave out 1,551
tickets one day earlier this year,
according to the New York Post.

The information comes from a Department of Transportation report
that just got released. The big pay day came on July 7, when school
wasn’t even in session. Each ticket is $50, so the city snagged a
cool $77,550. It’s
one of 10 speed cameras on Ocean Parkway.

From the Post:

The area’s city councilman, Chaim Deutsch, praised it for making
roadways safer.

“If anyone is speeding . . . they deserve a summons,” he told
the blog Sheepshead Bites.

But Councilman Mark Treyger has blasted the camera’s location as
a speed trap.

Speed-camera violations are issued to anyone going more than
10 mph over the posted speed limit, which in this case is 30 mph.
…

“So someone slowing from 50 to 40 mph or from 45 to 35 would not
receive a violation,” a DOT spokesperson said.

The city is currently adding 120 new speed cameras near public
schools, expected to be in place by the end of 2015.

The agency said earlier this month that its 20 existing cameras
issued 183,000 tickets since January, netting about $9.2
million.

The local Sheepshead Bites blog
quotes one resident who believes, “This camera seems to be
conveniently placed so close to the exit ramp that you are almost
guaranteed to set off this speed trap.”

Various analyses have poked holes in the idea that video
surveillance makes the roads safer.

A British study on speed cameras last year determined that “the
number of collisions appears to have risen enough to make the
cameras worthy of investigation in case they have contributed to
the increases.”

Likewise, many reports have indicated that red light cameras in
the U.S. increase
accidents.