Work zone cameras catch 191K speeding

In first eight months, 12% of violators were caught multiple times

The 17 white Jeep Grand Cherokees are parked along road construction sites on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and state roads from Route 476 in Lehigh County to Route 28 in Allegheny County.

Each vehicle is equipped with a camera and lidar sensors that signal the camera to snap a photo whenever a vehicle exceeds the work zone speed limit by at least 11 mph.

Two warning signs with an image of a camera and the words “Active Speed Limit, Photo Enforced” are placed at the start of the enforcement zone.

In addition, PennDOT keeps an updated list of all active locations of the vehicles on its website for anyone to see.

Still, between March and October, the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement system captured 191,702 vehi

“I think it’s really made a big difference in our work zones. To my knowledge, we haven’t had any hits since they put the cameras in work zones.”

— Max Hempt of Hempt Brothers

cles speeding in active work zones — 12% of them at least twice.

The number of warnings and fines — for a second offense — is higher than expected. But PennDOT and industry officials say it’s too early to worry that the program isn’t working.

“Based on feedback that we’ve gotten from the field, driver attentiveness seems to be up when the units are there,” said Daniel Farley, chief of PennDOT’s transportation system and management operations.

Max Hempt of Hempt Brothers, which has been building roads and highways in south-central Pennsylvania since 1943, agrees.

“I think it’s really made a big difference in our work zones,” he said. “To my knowledge, we haven’t had any hits since they put the cameras in work zones.”

One year, he noted, his truckmounted attenuators, which provide a cushion for trucks in work zones, were struck six times as workers set up traffic patterns for projects.

“Most times it’s people going too fast,” Hempt said.

Farley said he fully expects the violations to fall as more people realize that they’ll be fined after one warning.

That’s what happened in Maryland, where ticketed revenue from work zone speeding has fallen.

Sad reality

Grim statistics led Pennsylvania in 2018 to join Maryland and Illinois in passing camera work zone laws.

In 2018, the latest year available, there were 1,804 work zone crashes in Pennsylvania that resulted in 23 fatalities. Five people who were killed were construction workers.

Since 1970, PennDOT has lost 89 workers in such accidents while the Turnpike has had 45 worker deaths since 1945.

Among workers who died was Kevin Dendulk, 30, of Royersford, who was killed Aug. 1 when he was hit by a vehicle driving in a closed lane during nighttime construction on Interstate 81 in Hazle Township.

Pennsylvania activated its system in late 2019 with a 60-day preenforcement period. In March, the state began sending warning letters to first-time violators. Repeat offenders get a $75 fine for the first post-warning offense then $150 for each subsequent violation.

The fines don’t result in points on a driver’s license or negatively affect insurance rates.

Redflex Traffic Systems, an Australian traffic IT company, is overseeing the system under a $30 million, five-year contract, according to Jennifer Kuntch, deputy communications director at PennDOT.

Each vehicle costs $750 to operate during an eight-hour shift. Vehicles can be dispatched for two daily shifts if night work is involved.

Currently, 10 units are assigned to PennDOT and the rest to the Turnpike. Units are moved about as construction projects end and new ones start or if a need arises.

“We typically do about 90 to 110 deployments a week,” Farley said.

Based on the lidar readings, the units automatically take photos of any vehicle exceeding the work zone limit by 11 mph — no matter how many vehicles whiz by at any one time.

Each photo is then reviewed before notices are sent out.

So far, Pennsylvania has collected about $1.6 million in fines from 16,300 payments, Kuntch said.

Under the law, Farley said, the program is not supposed to cover its cost or generate revenue.

“This isn’t a gotcha program,” he said. “The intent is to really slow motorists down in all work zones.”

Jason Wagner is director of government affairs for the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors, a trade group representing 420 members in various facets of the highway and bridge construction industry.

Wagner said he was alarmed to learn that 12% of Pennsylvania’s violators are drivers who previously received a warning letter.

“It’s a little higher than we like,” Wagner said.

Wagner noted that Maryland’s repeat rate was 7% when it started a similar program and has since fallen to about 3%. Revenues are so low that some in Maryland wondered whether the program should be curtailed.

“People started getting the message pretty quickly in Maryland,” he said.

Wagner wonders whether the coronavirus could be skewing some of the data.

Soonafter the camera program began sending out notices, road projects as well as the camera units were suspended because of Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

When road construction resumed in April, there were fewer drivers on the road and they seemed to take advantage of that.

“People were driving crazy because congestion was down,” he said.

Wagner fully expects that Pennsylvania will see the percentage of repeat offenders drop.

“Over time that number will probably go down in the single digits,” he said.