Photo courtesy Flickr user Nomadic Less
Drivers consider this your warning: slow down, or a speed ticket will be arriving in the mail.
Starting on Thursday, Hill East’s 17th Street corridor, a one-way street running south from Benning Road, NE to Barney Circle, SE, will be the site of a new mobile speed camera.
The Metropolitan Police Department announced that they will use a vehicle-based camera in the 200 block of 17th Street, NE, a 25 mph zone.
The roadway, long referred to as the 17th Street “Speedway” by Capitol Hill neighbors, was overdue for a camera, according to neighborhood commissioner, Brian Flahaven, ANC 6B09.
In a blog post he wrote in September, Flahaven made the case for the camera:
Cars frequently speed down 17th Street between East Capitol St. and Barney Circle with only two stoplights (Mass Ave. and Potomac Ave.) to slow them down. Making matters worse, drivers crossing Mass Ave. can see the Potomac Ave. stoplight and tend to speed up to avoid the red light. Drivers also frequently turn on to E St. SE and D St. SE when the light at Potomac is red, turning narrow side streets into dangerous commuter thoroughfares.
This is the only new camera to be added on Capitol Hill. In total, 27 cameras will be placed across the city. Citations range from $75-$250 per ticket.
Map courtesy: Google Maps
I’m glad to hear this. Crossing 17th on A SE each morning is -always- a hassle, since only about 1 car in 200 will actually stop for pedestrians (which is the law, when standing in a crosswalk). Maybe this will slow the momentum and entitlement of those drivers a bit.
About damn time. Never made any sense why they have multiple cameras on 295, but not in other areas where it actually affects pedestrian safety. Oh wait, it does make sense, the ones on 295 are purely money makers.
One Camera? and on NE 17th St? Certainly more are needed, 17th St SE is totally ignored, I’ve seen speeders doing >70MPH through Independence Ave SE & Potomac Ave SE. MPD & DDOT – 2 totally inept DC Agencies when Resident & Pedestrian Safety is jepardized 24/7! Total lack of enforcement. Does someone have to be killed before anything really benefical is accomplished to slow the speeders down to less than 30 MPH and ticket the Dump Trucks and commuter buses?
still waiting for the street to be made two-way.