Baltimore is scrapping all 83 of the city’s automated speed cameras and “methodically” replacing them with newer models, after a Baltimore Sun investigation found errors with the system. The overhaul, estimated to cost about $450,000, comes after the city’s new speed camera contractor, Brekford Corp., analyzed Baltimore’s system and concluded the only way to cut down on the errors was to replace all the cameras with newer models.
A Brekford official said, “The old radar cameras have not progressed with technology,” adding that new cameras with “tracking” technology can focus on and follow a specific car and cut down on machine-created errors. “We want to rely on the systems and less on humans, who make errors. If you’re using the old radar cameras and it’s picking up something that’s not the car in the photograph, you leave yourself open to errors.” City Transportation Department spokeswoman Adrienne Barnes called the new cameras “state of the art.” The current cameras, some of which were originally red-light cameras upgraded to catch speeders, range in age, with some purchased recently and others in use for a decade or more.