Drivers be forewarned
Pa. to begin automated ticketing Monday for drivers who speed in work zones
Drivers should be wary: Automated speed enforcement begins Monday in some work zones across Pennsylvania.
The program, which state officials say is designed to protect construction workers as well as motorists, will station up to 17 white Jeep Cherokees at work zones where there is concern about speeding. Ten of the vehicles will be deployed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on state roads and seven more will be placed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
But since it’s still winter and many construction projects haven’t started yet, enforcement will begin at six sites in Eastern Pennsylvania, and only one on the turnpike’s Northeastern Extension in Montgomery County. All zones where speed enforcement is occurring in work zones will be posted on the PennDOT website.
“It’s just by chance that the cameras are mostly in central and eastern Pa.,” PennDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Kuntch said in an email. “With it being winter, we have less active work zones. As the weather warms up and we have more active work zones, we’ll see more cameras across the state.”
Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said most major toll road construction won’t begin for several weeks, but the agency expects to have sites in Western Pennsylvania then.
Under the state law that authorized the program, the vehicles are allowed to be used only when construction crews are actually working in an area. The Cherokees will use two methods to check the speed of vehicles, one similar to the equipment state police use and the other Doppler radar.
Any vehicle traveling more than 11 mph above the speed limit will have a photo of its license plate taken. If the calibration of the equipment is confirmed and both devices record the same speed, the motorist will receive a ticket by mail within 30 days.
Drivers will receive a warning for the first violation, followed by a $75 fine for the second and $150 fine for the third. The violations are civil penalties and will not result in points on a driver’s record.
The state tested equipment provided and operated by private contractor Redflex Traffic Systems for 60 days beginning Jan. 4. Workers for the Australianbased company will operate the system and report results to state police, which will certify the violations and forward them to PennDOT to issue a ticket by mail.
Ms. Kuntch said the testing went well and that there were no major problems with the equipment.
“The pre-enforcement period allowed new enforcement technicians, as well as field staff, the opportunity to get familiar with the equipment,” she said. “While we continue to evaluate the pre-enforcement data, it generally appears that drivers are beginning to pay more attention to posted speed limits.”
Ms. Kuntch stressed the equipment goes through strict, regular testing to make sure it is accurate. In addition to an annual certification, she said, a technician does a pre- and post-enforcement test every day to certify it is working properly.
A driver will have 30 days to challenge a ticket, but the only challenges accepted would be if the person receiving the ticket didn’t own the vehicle when the violation occurred; the vehicle had been reported stolen; or the equipment wasn’t properly calibrated.
By law, the enforcement sites aren’t being kept secret. In addition to the website listing every location, each site must post two 4square-foot signs to notify motorists as they are approaching an automated speed monitoring zone.
During the test period, Ms. Kuntch said, causing motorists to drive slower did not result in traffic backups. Officials will continue to monitor the enforcement zones, but they don’t expect traffic jams to occur, she said.
Injuries in work zones has been a long-standing concern. PennDOT reported 2,804 accidents in work zones across Pennsylvania in 2018, 23 of them resulting in fatalities and 43% of them causing injuries.
Since 1945, 45 turnpike employees have died in work-zone accidents, and 89 PennDOT workers have been killed since 1970.