After months of delays — the most recent due to weather — the City of Westminster's red-light cameras along Route 97 will begin to issue warnings this week.

Westminster Police Department Chief Jeff Spaulding told The Eagle that the equipment is up, and he expected the cameras to be attached to the State Highway Administration system and have power turned on today.

"The vendor needs 10 days to make sure it works properly," he said. "Soon after the first of March, we'll begin to issue warnings for two weeks."

The cameras will be aimed at the Route 140 and Malcolm Drive intersection eastbound and westbound through the intersection, and also on the left-turn lane.

The intersection at Route 97 south and Nursery Road will also be monitored.

The cameras use laser technology, instead of radar, and are lane-specific.

The Westminster Common Council approved a contract in April 2009 with camera vendor LaserCraft and the Regional Automated Enforcement Center, operated by the Howard County Police Department.

A $70 citation will be issued to violators, and no points will be added to the driver's license.

In the contract, the city will have to pay $9.70 per citation to the vendor, and also has a monthly charge for the cameras, which will be paid for by fines, Spaulding said.

Before a citation is issued, Howard County police operating the center will go through a checklist of 12 criteria to determine why people ran the red light, Spaulding said.

That way, he said, the vendor doesn't have a financial incentive to decide which violations should be approved or rejected. The decision, he said, will be left to police employees, who can determine if there are mitigating circumstances.

---

user comments (0)