Washington, with a population of just under 4,000 people, is set to become the first town to begin ticketing speeders by license plate readers. The affluent town, long known for being a retreat destination for well-known celebrities, is nestled within the Litchfield Hills.
“The number one volume of calls we get is for speeding,” said Washington First Selectman James Brinton. “Washington is a rural community and we have a very small police force with 93 miles of roads. So if you can imagine, it’s very difficult to patrol all of our roads. This was a problem before the pandemic, but post-pandemic, it’s like on steroids. It’s a huge safety concern for our residents.”
The town applied with the state’s Department of Transportation for three speeding cameras to be posted in areas known for high rates of speeders, Brinton said. Among the areas that were approved for cameras were Baldwin Hill Road, Old Litchfield Road, and Wykeham Road. The town, which only has one stoplight, opted to not put a speeding camera in that area.
“Prior to the application process, we put up a data collector on those roads, which reads speeds and the percentage of how many miles over the speed limit cars are going,” Brinton said. “We chose those roads in collaboration with our police department. For lack of a better term, all of those roads passed with flying colors. The state clearly saw that the data showed a high rate of speeders.”
The automated cameras work by capturing pictures of license plates and then sending speeders a ticket in the mail, according to Brinton. The town partnered with software and technology company Dacra Tech to install the cameras. Each camera system costs approximately $28,000, according to the town.
Speeders will be ticketed $50 for the first violation and then $75 for every subsequent violation along with a $15 processing fee, Brinton said. The company makes $10 from each fine.
Under state law, anyone who is caught speeding within the first 30 days the cameras are in operation, will only be issued a warning, according to Brinton. After that, speeders who receive tickets can appeal the violation, much like a traditional speeding ticket from a police officer.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about public safety,” Brinton said. “This is about keeping our residents safe.”
So far, Washington is just one of two other municipalities across the state that have applied for either speeding or red light cameras, according to Josh Morgan, spokesperson for the state’s DOT. New Haven sent in an application on Dec. 5 for both red light and speeding cameras, which is currently under review. Stamford also sent an application for just speeding cameras over the summer, but it was not approved, according to Morgan.
“Stamford’s plan came in over the summer and we replied in July that we had concerns about some types of signage in school zone locations. So far, they have not re-applied yet,” Morgan said. “We’re still in the process of reviewing New Haven’s application.”
The Connecticut General Assembly passed a law last year enabling cameras to ticket vehicles running red lights or speeding. As part of that law, the DOT had to develop guidelines for municipalities to follow by Jan. 1 of this year.
Since then, only three municipalities out of the state’s 169 towns and cities have applied for speeding or red light cameras, according to the DOT. Washington, with its small population and detailed application, made the approval process relatively quicker than other larger and more diverse communities.
“I’m not really surprised that we have received only three applications,” Morgan said. “It’s a lengthy process, it’s not as simple as a town saying we want to put up cameras, and then it happens tomorrow. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it. It was deliberately written to take time and make municipalities gather the data to avoid the misuse of this technology.”
The application process is complex, both to protect law-abiding drivers and to keep low-income neighborhoods from being targeted, according to state officials.
“To ensure that the (camera) distribution throughout a municipality is equitable … CTDOT will not approve more than two (camera) locations within a Qualified Census Tract (QCT) as designated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development,” DOT guidelines state.
A Qualified Census Tract is a geographic area in which 50% of the households have an income of less than 60% of the area’s median gross income, according to the state.
“It’s a detailed and lengthy process for a purpose,” Morgan said. “The legislation was written to prevent misuse to target certain people or communities. Crashes happen everywhere, not just in some communities. Lessons were learned in other states, and we applied those here in Connecticut. But we expect more municipalities to apply next year.”
Under state guidelines, all municipalities that install speeding or red light cameras must re-apply in three years. As part of the application to re-apply, towns must show proof that the cameras were effective in curbing accidents.
“This is not a set it and forget it program,” Morgan said. “Washington did a thorough job with its application. It showed us through data that those roads are high problem areas for speeders. But in three years, it will need to again prove the effectiveness of those cameras.”
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