Newly installed speed cameras on Flower Street in Berlin are officially live and clocked nearly 180 drivers traveling more than 37 mph on the 25 mph road in two days.
A new speed camera that recently went live is pictured on Flower Street in Berlin.
Charlene Sharpe / Bayside Gazette
Charlene Sharpe, Associate Editor
Speeding motorists on Flower Street will now be facing fines following installation of a speed camera.
The speed camera on Flower Street went live May 28 after installation earlier in the month. Municipal officials are hoping the $40 fines that will mailed to violators will begin to decrease the amount of speeding on the residential street.
“It’s not a thing about making money it’s having the speed limit complied with,” Councilman Dean Burrell said. “That’s what we’re looking to do—slow these folks down.”
Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing told the council on May 28 that the speed camera on Flower Street had gone live that morning. The camera was installed and tested in early May.
“On the three demo days they were having 65 violations a day,” Downing said.
He said his department had made contact with the school system and other local partners so that everyone was aware of the new camera.
“We’re expecting after citations are sent out a dramatic decrease,” he said.
The Berlin Police Department reported on its Facebook page last Friday a total 178 violations were record on Tuesday, May 28 (87) and Wednesday, May 29 (91). To receive a ticket, motorists be going 37 mph or greater in the 25 mph zone.
Downing added that most jurisdictions were now using speed cameras.
“We’re following the trend,” he said. “We realize technology is a force multiplier. We can’t be everywhere.”
Burrell, who lives in the Flower Street neighborhood, said he’d always felt speeding was a problem there. He said the 65 violations a day proved that observation was correct.
“I just wasn’t paranoid I was really seeing something,” he said.
When asked if repeat offenders would get higher fines Downing said they would not, as the state regulated citation fees for speed cameras. He said that from the $40 fine, the town would receive $26 while its speed camera vendor would receive the rest.
“The goal is not to make money it’s to make the problem stop,” Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said.