Cheek said the one-mile stretch of U.S. 127 that goes through the village has a 35 mph speed limit, but thousands of vehicles traveling along it daily average between 46 and 48 mph. The cameras will photograph any vehicle traveling 11 mph over the speed limit, and violators will be fined $95 per offense, he said.
“There have been accidents there and there have been lots of complaints from village residents who have told police of near misses,” Cheek said, noting a park, fire station and Family Dollar store construction site sit along the route. “The cameras will help because they are on 24 hours a day.”
Footage of the alleged violations have to be reviewed and approved by Cheek or one of three trained officers before a notice of liability is mailed to the vehicle’s owner. The village will retain $57 of the fine amount, which will go into it’s general fund for operations, and the remaining 40 percent, or $38, will go to Optotraffic LLC of Lanham, Md., who owns the cameras and administers the program.
Speed cameras and red-light cameras have stirred controversy in several communities throughout the state, including Hamilton and Middletown. Critics of the devices say speed cameras are just a money grab for the municipalities and villages that use them, while proponents contend their use is to improve safety.
If all 1,000 speed camera violations between Oct. 1 and Oct. 12 are approved for processing to the motorists, New Miami’s share of the collected fine amount would be about $57,000. That’s more than half of the $101,300 generated by the village’s police levy and general fund appropriation for 2012, according to Belinda Ricketts, the village’s fiscal officer.
Before the cameras, officers would sit in their cruisers on U.S. 127 to slow or ticket speeders. Cheek, who is New Miami’s only full-time officer, said the village’s auxiliary officers, who work five-hour shifts doing traffic and other patrols, averaged about 100 traffic stops a month, including speeding.
Village Council approved an ordinance to establish the speed camera traffic enforcement on July 5, and a resolution to enter a contract with Optotraffic was approved Aug. 2. State-required warning signs were placed at the village limits in late August, Cheek said, and enforcement began Oct. 1.
While the cameras are currently along U.S. 127 and Seven Mile Avenue, Cheek said, they may be moved to other parts of the village at a later date.
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