Police raise threshold for traffic tickets near speed cameras on Watkins Mill Road

To squelch perceptions of a speed trap, Gaithersburg, MD officials have recommended raising the speed limit on a half-mile section of Watkins Mill Road so that the speed is consistent with the rest of the road.The speed limit on the half-mile, city-owned section is 25 mph, while the speed limit for the rest of the road, which is owned by the county, is 35 mph.

City Police Chief John King adjusted the threshold in which a ticket will be issued to speeders caught on camera.

Problems with the set speed limit “didn’t come to light until we put in the fixed speed cameras, and we started getting letters of complaint, which suggested that it was a speed trap,” King said.

In a Feb. 12 letter, the city’s public works department advised Mayor Sidney A. Katz and the City Council that they should raise the speed limit along the city’s section of the road from 25 to 35 mph and extend Watkins Mill Elementary School’s school zone. No date has yet been set for the items review.

Since the city’s Safe Speed Photo Enforcement Program debuted in the fall, officials have received complaints about the 25 mph speed limit posted.

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