Driving N on 5 Near Branch Ave Metro?

itsbob

I bowl overhand
If you drove by the Branch Ave Metro this afternoon going North you can probably expect a ticket in the mail in a week or two.

Coming South, speed camera set up in front of an SUV facing North inside the Jersey barriers damn thing was flashing like a strobe light.. I can't imagine many cars going North got by there without getting a ticket (construction zone).
 

JazCat

New Member
itsbob, I drove through there last night around 8:00. I didn't see any camera flashes, but the huge speed monitors that show your speed are still up on both sides. I've been aware of those for months now. And there are still quite a few people who fly through on both sides once rush hour is over. My son (23 yo) insists that those speed monitors only read your speed and don't actually ticket anyone. I try to tell him otherwise, but yeah you know. Also, if there's no planned construction going on during that time (late Sunday), is the speeding ticket still valid?
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
itsbob, I drove through there last night around 8:00. I didn't see any camera flashes, but the huge speed monitors that show your speed are still up on both sides. I've been aware of those for months now. And there are still quite a few people who fly through on both sides once rush hour is over. My son (23 yo) insists that those speed monitors only read your speed and don't actually ticket anyone. I try to tell him otherwise, but yeah you know. Also, if there's no planned construction going on during that time (late Sunday), is the speeding ticket still valid?

Doesn't matter if it's an ACTIVE construction zone, if there are barrels or cones present its a construction zone..

The camera was firing so fast I thought it was a new sort of wig wag strobed headlight..

It was interesting to see as it took my mind a few seconds to.figure out what I was looking at.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
The funding was going faster than you could say it..

Hundred dollars

Hundred dollars.

Hundred dollars
.
 

BOP

Well-Known Member
Some big construction company has taken an ad out in the paper saying they're going to be doing some demolition in the DC area in the near future. I think the name of the company was ISIS or ISIL or something like that.
 
If you drove by the Branch Ave Metro this afternoon going North you can probably expect a ticket in the mail in a week or two.

Coming South, speed camera set up in front of an SUV facing North inside the Jersey barriers damn thing was flashing like a strobe light.. I can't imagine many cars going North got by there without getting a ticket (construction zone).

Yeah, the camera was on super fast strobe flash mode this morning. It's a white Jeep or Dodge SUV, cameras and lights are mounted on the front bumper/grill area of the vehicle. They've been parking it on the left (center of the road) shoulder alternating between getting northbound or southbound traffic. Thankfully I exit going north before it can get me, and get on 5 southbound well after it as well, so hopefully I will get no tickets.
 

JoeR

New Member
If you drove by the Branch Ave Metro this afternoon going North you can probably expect a ticket in the mail in a week or two.

Coming South, speed camera set up in front of an SUV facing North inside the Jersey barriers damn thing was flashing like a strobe light.. I can't imagine many cars going North got by there without getting a ticket (construction zone).

You see this setup a lot around the state. I've seen it in work zones going up I270 towards Frederick and on the top side of the beltway in Montgomery County. The cameras and flash look like a snow plow setup on the front of a pickup. They sometimes like to park the pickup just past a porta john like someone's parked there using it. I'm surprised they haven't had it in the work zone on Billingsley Road between St. Charles Pkwy and 301 where they have the speed dropped to 35mph..
 

libertytyranny

Dream Stealer
If you drove by the Branch Ave Metro this afternoon going North you can probably expect a ticket in the mail in a week or two.

Coming South, speed camera set up in front of an SUV facing North inside the Jersey barriers damn thing was flashing like a strobe light.. I can't imagine many cars going North got by there without getting a ticket (construction zone).

yep, saw that last week and the thing was flashing non stop!
 

OldHillcrestGuy

Well-Known Member
I went into Dc last Thursday saw the camera, its mounted on the front of a white Ford Escape. It may have gotten me, I'll know soon enough when the mail comes in the next couple of days. If you watch carefully just before they have that camera, there is always a sign saying something like 'speed enforced by camera'. I did slow down some when the driver in front of me slowed down. Coming back south on 5 when leaving DC, that camera was some kind of flashing.

That area is my old hood, I use to ride my bicycle up and down that road when the Beltway first opened, I'd probably be part of the asphalt now.

When that section of the Beltway opened back around 66-67, the section going toward the WW Bridge was deserted. Great place to drag race, one of my best friends was a rich kid, his Dad and Uncle built hundreds of homes in Camp Springs and were the original builders of Marlton in Upper Marlboro. We were in his Mom's Cadillac and we raced a 67 Chevelle toward the bridge all I remember is I looked over and we were approaching 130mph. and that Chevelle was still pulling away. Nearly $*** my pants. That's the fastest Ive ever been in a car and certainly don't wont to ever repeat that speed. I think my AFib would put me 6 ft under.
 

vince77

Active Member
"Why is work zone safety everyone’s business? Because everyone is at risk. The goal of the SafeZones program is to reduce the speed of vehicles in advance of and through work zones to prevent crashes and injuries and save lives. In four out of five work zone crashes, motorists and passengers, not highway workers, are injured or killed. Work zones present challenging driving conditions with little margin for driver error, and space constrictions often limit traditional law enforcement.

The Maryland SafeZones program has effectively reduced aggressive speeding in work zones. SafeZones has contributed to a more than 80 percent reduction in speed camera violations. Additionally, work zone-related crash injuries and fatalities are at their lowest in more than 10 years. Please partner with us in building safer Maryland roads – drive safely and obey the posted speed limit in construction work zones. Click here for more information. "

http://www.safezones.maryland.gov/
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
The Waze app will notify you before you reach a traffic speed or red light camera. It's crowd-sourced so new stuff like this speed camera show up on the map very quickly.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
"Why is work zone safety everyone’s business? Because everyone is at risk. The goal of the SafeZones program is to reduce the speed of vehicles in advance of and through work zones to prevent crashes and injuries and save lives. In four out of five work zone crashes, motorists and passengers, not highway workers, are injured or killed. Work zones present challenging driving conditions with little margin for driver error, and space constrictions often limit traditional law enforcement.

The Maryland SafeZones program has effectively reduced aggressive speeding in work zones. SafeZones has contributed to a more than 80 percent reduction in speed camera violations. Additionally, work zone-related crash injuries and fatalities are at their lowest in more than 10 years. Please partner with us in building safer Maryland roads – drive safely and obey the posted speed limit in construction work zones. Click here for more information. "

http://www.safezones.maryland.gov/

80% reduction in speed camera violations? How can they issue more than 12 - 20 a minute?

I'm not buying the reduction part at all.. not from just the few minutes I saw.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
First, is that camera in DC or MD? SafeZones in an MD program. Bob, they sure can reduce violations. But, oddly enough, why is it stated that way? Because while the next statement about lowest crash and fatality rates is true, it's true everywhere, work zones or not, follwoing a general decline in these rates virtually everywhere in the country for maybe 10-15 years now. As new safety technologies have come online, crash and fatality rats continue to decline. The automated enforcement industry has ridden the coattails of this decline to hide the fact that they don'y do squat.
 

StadEMS3

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
I got my ticket the other day for the 5NB Branch Ave Metro speed camera: 71 in a 45 warning only.
 

Booboo3604

Active Member
That SUV has been there off and on for at least a month that I have seen. I disagree that it is making anything safer. With the cluster-f that is created from the ramps for the beltway to begin with, adding in every lane break-checking as they approach to avoid a picture of their rear-end, makes that an even more dangerous area.

I was also under the impression that you could fight camera tickets with other vehicles in the view as you could argue that there is no definitive way to tell which vehicle was violating the speed. If that's the case, there is no way any of those pictures being taken have any less than 2 or 3 cars at least in view at any given point.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
Doesn't matter if it's an ACTIVE construction zone, if there are barrels or cones present its a construction zone..

The camera was firing so fast I thought it was a new sort of wig wag strobed headlight..

It was interesting to see as it took my mind a few seconds to.figure out what I was looking at.

funny you should mention that. I was taking a trip this past weekend and noticed (in MD) several construction zones that did not appear to be doing much "contructing" :)
But they had the "reduce speed / fines double" signs.
of course there is now advance warning that speed was going to be reduced until you get to the sign.
So I was wondering if there was any law that said they couldn't just put a "construction zone" up, lower the speed limit and collect the cash, do not pass Go.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
First, is that camera in DC or MD? SafeZones in an MD program. Bob, they sure can reduce violations. But, oddly enough, why is it stated that way? Because while the next statement about lowest crash and fatality rates is true, it's true everywhere, work zones or not, follwoing a general decline in these rates virtually everywhere in the country for maybe 10-15 years now. As new safety technologies have come online, crash and fatality rats continue to decline. The automated enforcement industry has ridden the coattails of this decline to hide the fact that they don'y do squat.

They do one thing, they make money. I wish people would stop pretending. if they didn't make money for the government AND the company, these companies wouldn't be in the business. Bottom line, if it's profitable for the vendor and the customer, and the customer is responsible for enforcing the rules, you can bet they customer and vendor are not going to let minor technicalities get in the way of a profitable relationship.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
That SUV has been there off and on for at least a month that I have seen. I disagree that it is making anything safer. With the cluster-f that is created from the ramps for the beltway to begin with, adding in every lane break-checking as they approach to avoid a picture of their rear-end, makes that an even more dangerous area.

I was also under the impression that you could fight camera tickets with other vehicles in the view as you could argue that there is no definitive way to tell which vehicle was violating the speed. If that's the case, there is no way any of those pictures being taken have any less than 2 or 3 cars at least in view at any given point.

Not anymore, modern ones use lasers pointed at individual lanes and can discriminate.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
The Waze app will notify you before you reach a traffic speed or red light camera. It's crowd-sourced so new stuff like this speed camera show up on the map very quickly.

why are you using your cell phone in your vehicle, don't you know it's illegal?
 
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