by Marlene Berlin
The red light camera on Nebraska at Fessenden is quite the attention hog.
It has been in the Chevy Chase listserv headlines for quite awhile. Since 2010, when it burst onto the scene, drivers riled up about the tickets and fines have been keeping it in the limelight. The camera has to be wrong, the drivers insist. They are certain they stopped before turning right. But they were wrong, and the videos of their offenses showed them so. But this just made the drivers angrier.
Letters from Deal and Murch parents came to the red light camera’s defense. There was a reason for this camera. It protected their children from drivers who may have thought they were stopping before turning right, but really weren’t. So the camera was saved.
And now ANC 3/4G will host Lisa Sutter, the head of MPD photo enforcement, at its September meeting Monday. She will be presenting on why we have this camera, where it is, and how it works. Perhaps this will satisfy this attention-starved red light camera, so it can just go back to keeping the students and other pedestrians safe as they truck along Nebraska and Fessenden.
ANC 3/4G meets Monday, September 9th, 7:30-9:30 p.m., at the Chevy Chase Community Center.
Marlene Berlin is the pedestrian advocate for Iona Senior Services and a member of DC’s Pedestrian Advisory Council.
Mary Beth Ray says
Misery loves company! Just paid my ticket, although like the others, I’m not quite sure what my offense was!
Eric says
I was stopped for a while at that red light (heading south on Conn.) one evening while Nebraska had a green light, and the red light camera went off while no one was moving through the intersection from any direction. I assumed it was malfunctioning, and I never got a ticket, but I wonder if someone else sitting at the light did.
Marlene Berlin says
A stop at a red light requires a full stop at the stop bar, even if you intend to make a right hand turn. MPD does not issue a ticket unless the car’s rear tires are beyond the stop bar, at which point the crosswalk is blocked. This is considered going through a red light, as specified in DC Code. All tickets are reviewed three times by trained staff, the last by a sworn MPD officer. Just because a light flashes does not mean an automatic ticket.
Dee Foscherari says
Keep the camera – save lives and prevent accidents – AND costly hospital and medical bills!