LANDOVER, Md. — Last year, Prince George’s County began a process to update its red light camera program with newer digital technology capable of ticketing right turns on red, but the progress has been slowed with gridlock along the way.
Police wanted to install 72 new red light cameras to take video and other features most other jurisdictions already have. Also, police wanted to upgrade the cameras to have the capability to ticket drivers who turned right on red without coming to a complete stop before the stop line.
Montgomery County, Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia jurisdictions have had these capabilities for several years.
But progress has been slowed with only about 31 red light cameras updated and only about 10 with the right turn on red capability.
“They will not all be right turn on red [cameras]. In fact, the State Highway Administration has not given us approval to do right turns on red on all of those cameras,” says Prince George’s County Police Maj. Robert Liberati, who runs the county speed and red light camera program.
While he declined to criticize the SHA for lack of approval to date, the result has been that the cameras capable of ticketing for right turns on red without a complete stop have been limited to county roads.
In Maryland, SHA must give permission for any speed or red light camera on a state road, usually defined as a numbered roadway, such as 29-Colesville Road, 355-Rockville Pike, 4-Branch Avenue or 202-Landover Road.
Many motorists who have received right turn on red tickets have complained about them to WTOP Ticketbuster. In fact, right turn on red tickets are the top red-light camera complaint by far.
But most of the time, as WTOP has chronicled, the video shows that the motorist did not completely stop before the stop line.
Rolling right turns, also known as California stops or Rhode Island rolls, occur when a driver creeps forward into the right turn without ever actually stopping. In most jurisdictions, unless you’re traveling less than 13 mph, you’ll get a ticket for the rolling turn.
However, organizations such as AAA Mid-Atlantic, have been critical of the use of red light cameras in Maryland for right turns on red. John Townsend, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman, says he believes Maryland law does not allow police to ticket for such violations.
He argues the law only covers people blowing straight through a red light. So far, no one has challenged this portion of the law to the Maryland Supreme Court, so there is no consensus from the higher courts on the matter.
“The most dangerous thing is for a person to barrel through a red light and hit someone in a T-bone crash. That’s why motorists support red light cameras. But once you begin to talk about right turns on red, that’s not what they bought into. That was not part of the social contract,” says Townsend.
Liberati counters that there is definitely room for consensus. He argues that no one could defend a right turn on red where the driver made absolutely no attempt to slow down and made the turn at a high speed. He adds that when it comes to rolling right turns, it’s a question of enforcement.
“We look at every video for violations of right turns on red to insure the person hasn’t stopped just over the line or somewhere in the turn. If we see a good faith effort to stop, then we’re not going to issue that ticket,” says Liberati.
Montgomery County takes a similar position, as does the city of Laurel with their red light camera programs. However, both Washington, D.C., and the city of Rockville are known to apply a stricter standard to right turns on red without coming to a complete stop before the stop line.
