Speeders, beware! A new officer manned DragonCam installed along Interstate 76 is coming for your lead foot, and your wallet. (We hope you read that in your best local TV news anchor voice.)
In just the first 20 days since Norton, Ohio, has been using a manned speed camera they’ve issued 3,219 citations, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
At roughly $200 a pop, that means Norton has issued $643,800 in collectible civil fines in less than three weeks, and that’s just with the camera operating three hours a day six days a week. At this rate, it will only take 32 days for the city to break $1 million dollars in fines.
The speed limit on I-76 in Norton is usually 65 mph, but with construction currently underway, the speed limit is 55 mph. Police are issuing tickets to anyone caught going 65 mph or faster, and roughly 70,000 vehicles use the highway each day.
Norton implemented the use of the DragonCam last month in an attempt to slow down motorists and reduce the number of crashes on the highway, as it’s been under construction since 2016 and sparked a jump in accidents in each direction. The six-mile stretch in Norton had 147 crashes last year, a significant spike from the 83 crashes in 2016.
Of course, people are upset about getting ticketed by the DragonCam and have accused the city of trying to generate revenue, but part of the deal with DragonCam’s parent company, Blue Line Solutions, is that the program will end when the construction ends on the highway, which is sometime next year. The city will also stop using the DragonCam when the construction season winds down for winter and the concrete barriers are removed. The camera will return in the spring when construction season begins again.
The city gets 60-percent of the fines. Quick math tells us that’s $386,280 so far.
The agreement also calls for the first $250,000 collected to go to the police department to pay for the program and school resource officers, and any additional funds to go toward street improvements.
This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2018.
When the rebellion finally begins, will the Cameras be able to re-build all the city owned buildings and its administrators homes and office buildings with the revenue? Eventually the hard working people that are hustling to work and school and soccer practices will be fed up with this tactic to launder an illicit tax from their pockets. Remember that gun that targets the people may one day place a target on the Nortons of this country. And shame on the FOP for tolerating the prostitution of its officers and allowing their members to be subjected to unnecessary dangers of abusing the people they serve.
So,it’s ok break the law and put innocent lives at risk? Personally I applaud this effort to make roadways safer!
Time to change “Norton” to “Sherwood Forest”…because it’s definitely a robbin’ hood…
Pro tip: Don’t speed, and you won’t get a fine.
Hell, they’re even giving 10 MPH over the posted limit.
I’ll admit, I routinely speed. Everywhere. But if I get caught and cited (by whatever means), it’s my own damn fault!
Stop trying to complain and blame everyone else for your own actions.
This is all crap. It is money generation pure and simple. Our laws need to be enforced as written. You speed you get a ticket, aquire points,pay a fine and recieve an increase in insurance. Thats the proper deterrent.
These politicians are pick pocketing us. Its a shame and we should not tolerate it. We should put it on the ballet and make it illegal to use cameras or law enforcement as tools to generate income for these towns, villages or townships!
Several points:
1) Paying Blue Line Solutions on a percentage basis would make the contract illegal in many places. Only flat monthly fee payments should ever be allowed with ticket cameras to prevent corruption.
2) Giving a large portion of the revenue to police essentially guarantees the police will treat ticketing as if it has a quota to assure their “cut”. But ANY kinds of ticket quotas are corrupt and should be illegal.
3) Speed cameras produce profits ONLY when used in regular or construction zones where the posted limits are improperly set well below the safest 85th percentile speed levels.
4) Most tickets will go to safe drivers causing no hazards. That makes the revenue = theft.
5) Ticket cameras are for-profit rackets that no moral person should ever tolerate for any reason.
James C. Walker, National Motorists Association
I get the need for Safety – I am from Norton and can tell you that the city council is a bunch of loons. They better account for every penny. The former DUI mayor of Norton is on the council and is the ring leader of this effort.