Speed Limit

“Congratulations to The Herald-Mail on the two articles about the post office and the local fire and rescue money. Good articles, you did a good job. Now let's make sure they're all held accountable. Reference to the post office, the free lunch is over. We have to make sure we close post offices, reduce hours and keep paying their benefits, because one of these days we won't have the money to pay the benefits. Thank you for reporting it. Good job, Herald-Mail.” - Leitersburg “Have you ever noticed how many people want tax cuts and want prices held down, but only if it doesn't affect themselves?

Hagerstown's first speed cameras were installed Tuesday morning along Northern Avenue at Crofton Road in the area of Fountaindale Elementary School. Members of the Hagerstown Police Department and Brekford - the company contracted to provide the cameras as part of the Hagerstown Automated Speed Enforcement Program - attended the camera kickoff. “Public safety is very important to us,” Hagerstown police Capt. Mark Holtzman said. “It's been a longtime initiative of the police department to try and reduce the speed around the schools.” A 30-day warning period began on Tuesday for motorists, Holtzman said.

The Hagerstown City Council gave final approval Tuesday night to two ordinances to allow the use of speed cameras in city school zones. The five-member council passed both measures 4-1, with Councilman Forrest W. Easton voting against them. The ordinances will allow cameras to be set up in designated school zones to ticket motorists who drive 12 mph or more over the speed limit. City and police officials have said the cameras will increase safety for children and reduce police workload.

The Hagerstown City Council Tuesday evening unanimously approved the introduction of ordinances that would designate school speed-camera zones and approve a loan to buy larger recycling bins for city residents. The five-member council approved the introduction of an ordinance that establishes citywide school zones, which was first presented by Police Chief Arthur Smith last Tuesday. The school zone ordinance would establish speed limits at more than a dozen locations near Hagerstown schools that could be sites for new speed-monitoring cameras.

In the 14 years since the Maryland legislature approved red-light cameras, about 200 of the ticket-issuing machines have been installed in the state, according to a database compiled by AAA Mid-Atlantic. That doesn't include speed cameras, which are numerous in Maryland, but for which there is no comprehensive database.  The cameras “are effective because they scare people,” said Amanda Clark, 29, who has received four red-light camera tickets and a speed-camera ticket within the last five years.

Two residents who live on High Street complained recently about speeding in the area, but the average speed on the street is 22 mph, Boonsboro Town Councilwoman Janeen Solberg said Monday night. Resident Tim Roberts and another resident talked about speeding on High Street during a council meeting in October. Solberg said during a town council meeting Monday that town police monitored the street for about 12 hours and determined the average speed on the street was 22 mph. The speed limit on the street is 25 mph, Solberg said.

“You know, this business of not getting a budget for the country is just a lot of whoop-dee-doo, because the Republicans had said, right from the very beginning, that they will do not anything to help President Obama, because they want him to be a one-term president. So instead of doing what is right for the country, they are doing what they want to do, to get him out of office.” - Falling Waters, W.Va. “The Tim Butterworth opinion page article in the Nov. 22 paper is an outrage.

The problem: “Apparently a speed limit sign has changed from 25 mph to 40 mph on College Road off (Md.) Route 68, but the speed limit is still 25 mph in the opposite direction approaching Route 68,” Hagerstown resident Ann Ford wrote in an email. “This is a very hilly road and not safe, at all, at 40 mph, plus there is no reduction in speed approaching Saint James School.” Ford said Saint James students participate in after-school activities on both sides of the street, and there is a sharp, narrow curve with stone walls on either side of the street in the area of the school that should not be taken at 40 mph. Who could fix it: Washington County Highway Department What they say: Highway Department Director Ed Plank said while part of College Road is 40 mph, the area around the school is a 25 mph zone.