Davis testifies for state Senate on traffic speed camera accuracy

Professor Christopher Davis (ECE/ISR) presented testimony to the Judicial Proceedings Committee of the Maryland State Senate last month in regards to Senate Bill 207, which concerns the improvement of traffic speed camera accuracy. Senator James Brochin sponsored the bill and asked Davis to testify after seeing Davis’ name in a Baltimore Sun article on the subject.

A summary of the testimony, which occurred Feb. 20, is as follows:

“The speed measurement technologies most widely used are radar and lidar. Radar, which is generally used by speed cameras, is especially subject to errors because of its wide beam, and its measurements can be disturbed by reflections, nearby large vehicles, and other vehicles moving within the radar systems’ field of view. Lidar uses a much narrower beam to detect vehicle speed and is most often used by uniformed officers.

It is important to assure the public that the citations they receive as a result of a speed camera observation are accurate and fair. The only truly fair way to use speed cameras is to provide accurate time-stamped photographs of a vehicle showing that it has moved a known distance in a precisely measured time interval.”

SB-207 was first introduced Jan. 18, 2013 and is titled “Vehicle Laws – Speed Monitoring and Work Zone Speed Control Systems.” Read more about it here.

Published March 13, 2013