One of the Flower Street speed camera sites is pictured.

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The speed cameras implemented in Berlin last summer have been successful in reducing speeding on Flower Street and Seahawk Road, officials said this week.

Each apparatus has two camera heads, for a total of six among the three locations of Flower Street at Railroad Avenue, Flower Street at Peach Lane, and Seahawk Road near Stephen Decatur High School, and records when drivers’ speed ticks past 12 mph over the posted legal limit of 25 mph.

All cameras were live in August. That month, the devices picked up 3,113 speeding violations. That figure has steadily decreased, and in December, the safety technology recorded 926 incidents of drivers going 37 mph or over. In total, from July-December, there 9,084 speeders issued tickets.

“Behaviors have changed,” Berlin Chief of Police Arnold Downing said.

By law, speed cameras are only permitted to operate and issue citations between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. However, Downing maintained that when the devices are not in use, officers return to the three locations and hand out tickets with higher fines and license points to speeding drivers.

“Don’t think that because they are operational only at certain times, we’re not coming back,” he noted. “[The cameras] are supporting us being in other places during those times, but we’re coming back… and getting people that think, ‘well, it’s not operating, so I can speed a bit.’”

The chief added that to date, the violations have secured $180,000 in revenue for Berlin, accounting for the 55-60% split deal with speed camera vendor Red Speed.

The agreement provides that drivers who exceed 36 mph face a $40 fine. Berlin receives $26 of each ticket. Red Speed, responsible for mailing the violations, collects the remainder of the payment.

Officials emphasized that Berlin’s funds from the speed camera citations stay within the town’s police department to be used for capital expenses.

“We are going to use those funds and accomplish some capital needs that exist within the police department so this money can be turned around into community policing and increased resources that the department needs, as well as a campaign to increase speed awareness downtown,” Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall said.

Town Council Vice President Dean Burrell, who lives near the speed camera sites, echoed Tyndall’s statement, reminding the public that while the revenue is a product of the speed camera initiative, it was not the intent.

“The objective we are trying to obtain is to slow folks down, and this is working the way in which it was intended,” the councilmember said. “I believe one of these months we’re going to come in here and have a total of zero, which would be great for Berlin.”