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Cameras will catch speeders on I-95 in town

Cameras will catch speeders on I-95 in town

By Stephanie Ingersoll

Published on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 9:48am |
First Byline: 
Stephanie Ingersoll

Keep an eye on the skies - and your speedometer - because as early as July, there will be cameras on Interstate 95 watching you.
The Town of Ridgeland has finalized its deal with iTraffic, a company that will install radar and cameras on I-95 to catch excessive speeders and send tickets to their homes.
The system will record the license plates of speeders and photograph the person driving.
The deal with the local company, which will be headquartered in Ridgeland, has been finalized and special software is being created now, said Ridgeland Mayor Gary Hodges.
But for those thinking the system will be a "cash cow" for the town's coffers, think again, he said.
Most money from tickets is sent to the state. The rest will be split between the town and iTraffic.
Although the real purpose is to protect motorists and the police officers who would otherwise have to write tickets along the busy corridor, the money will also offset emergency responses to crashes on the interstate.
About 35 percent of the county's emergency response happens on the interstate. But money generated by tickets doesn't come close to paying 35 percent of the town's fire, police and rescue budget, Hodges said.
Instead, those services are paid by taxpayers. The tickets will help offset that cost and perhaps save citizens money.
"It's time for the people who cause the problems to pay for our services," he said Tuesday. "We're just trying to balance that out and make things safer along the way."
No tickets will be issued until all bugs are worked out. Hodges expects the system to be up and running by mid-to-late summer, with a target date of July.
While there are detractors, Hodges believes most people will be happy with the new system once they are educated on it.
Excessive speeders make up about 2 percent of the traffic traveling through Ridgeland's stretch of I-95.
"It's a good thing for 98 percent of the people and a bad thing for the 2 percent that cause the problems," he said. "Those are the ones we'll deal with in the program."



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Traffic fines

Submitted by Ridgelandinfo.com on Sun, 05/09/2010 - 7:36pm.

To all,

The only way for the citizens of the Town of Ridgland to end the debate over there police department enforcing traffic fines on I-95 for the revenue. They need to push there local legislature to change the law where the State of South Carolina collects 100 percent of the fine. There are states in the union that all ready collect 100 percent of the fine. Do you think this deal Mayor Hodges worked out with a private company to share in the profits would be so lucrative if there was no money coming back to the coffers of the Towns General fund. It would then be truly for the safety of the motorist travelling pass the town of Ridgeland.

I know Mayor Hodges. What he says in the public lime light is not so the truth. This camera scheme is nothing but a money maker for the town. The town has been so hooked on the addiction of fine revenue generated by there police department on I 95 since Former Chief of police Diabase brought it to the town as a way to bring revenue to the town coffers. The days of old fashion police protection for the town retired when Chief Able retired.

Why does the town have in there budget every year a Projected revenue in Police fines. Its because they use there police department as a revenue tool to bring in money. I'm wondering what will the projected revenue number be with the Cameras installed? I'm wondering what will be the cost savings to the tax payers when they no longer need police officers enforcing traffic enforcement on I-95 due to the camera taking place of the police officers due to it being so hazardous to there safety.

Will the town save money on hiring less officers, equipment, insurance on patrol cars. The cost of maintenance on patrol cars. There has to be some benefit for the town to down size its police force for a town of 2500 people due to the cameras taking the place of officers enforcing traffic on I-95. That includes almost half of the population incarcerated at the state prison. The town annex the state prison to get its population number up to get federal dollars. The town has talked about building a new fire station for its fire fighters. They need a half million dollars. Seems Mayor Hodges has found his cash cow to come up with the money. Lets do the camera deal to raise the needed funds.

The problem I see. How will they collect a traffic fine from a photo of a tag. How will they suspend the drivers license of a driver from a photo of a tag who does not pay the fine. What state law on the books will allow to suspend a driver license of a out of state driver from a just a tag. I know how. Mayor hodges making up law as he goes.

One more thing. I birthed the pink tub bath race. I went to a meeting of the gopher hill festival after i was invited. I came up with the ideal and the members present came up with the rules. It was a grand hit. Sorry to say current Mayor Hodges tried in vain to scuttle the funds to the festival due to him thinking it was a dig at him. I brought it up to turn a distraction brought on the town by the current mayor and to turn it in a positive event for the festival like the Beaufort Bed races.

The town gets what they elect in a leader. This is just another mess Mayor Hodges has brought on the town of Ridgeland. I wonder what Gopher hole My friend Chief Woods is hiding in during all this mess with the Cameras. The next time I'm in town. I will look under the Gopher statue. I'm sure there is a big hole for Corrupt officials to hide when the lime light is on them.

William Shoemaker

First of all, nobody cares

Submitted by ridgelandnative on Mon, 05/10/2010 - 11:55pm.

First of all, nobody cares if you were the mastermind behind a group of people pushing bathroom fixtures down the street.  Assuming none of them are pushing 80mph, that's go nothing to do with speed cameras.

Second of all, I'd like to make a simple observation.  If you're going to try and criticize something and be taken seriously, learn to write a proper sentence.  It shouldn't be necessary for someone reading your comments to go back and try to figure out what you're trying to say.  I don't know if you are commending or criticizing the idea of speed cameras.  Since I'm fairly certain it was the latter, I'll comment on that.

Currently, there are no laws on the SC books that address the issue of speed cameras.  Given that there is nothing to prohibit the use of them, you can't accuse the mayor of "making up the law as he goes".  Speed cameras come in different designs.  Some only photograph the license plate of the car, in which case the registered owner is responsible for paying.  The other breed of cameras capture both the plate and the driver in separate images, which leaves the driver responsible (and in some cases, aids police investigations into stolen vehicles or tracking individuals).

The implementation of speed cameras doesn't mean that the town and/or county is going to reduce the number of officers.  Rather than having them sit on I-95, they can be redistributed around the jurisdiction that they serve.  In this fashion, they can attempt to stop crime that can't be handled by a camera: more officers can be stationed at the high school and outlying areas to reduce response time.

My impression is that you're just looking to criticize the mayor, and couldn't find anything else to do it with.  Speed cameras reduce the number of accidents (including fatal crashes), they're coming to Ridgeland, and there isn't some sort of Ho Chi Minh trail running under Main Street.  Deal with it.

Cameras are a great idea

Submitted by usarmy-ridgelan... on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 2:21pm.

Believe it or not I was photographed by a traffic camera in a little sleepy town in Louisanna almost one year ago. I was traveling through that area according to the ticket doing 82 in a 70 mile an hour zone. The ticket had a picture of our vehicle and a close up of our rear Virginia tag. The ticket gave time, date, mile marker, and a parish. As I got over the shock of recieving this ticket in the mail about two weeks after our vacation because I didn't know that such a thing existed, I thought to myself that it was a great idea. I didn't remember seeing a vehicle or anything at the time of the ticket. I thought to myself, wow what a great safe way to ticket fast moving vehicles without incident. The ticketing system they had was $5.00 for every mile over the speed limit which I thought was fair. I just went onto their website watched the video of me speeding by and paid my $60.00 with my credit card. As a ridgeland native I don't think that anything is wrong with violators easing up the cost the citizens of Ridgeland have to pay to help and keep Interstaters safe passing through our town. Just think how much revenue that little sleepy town has created in the year they have been using this system. Bravo Ridgeland for using 21st century ideas in a town that seems to be stuck in 1900's.

As side note for Y'all who

Submitted by BillO45 on Sun, 09/05/2010 - 8:17am.

As side note for Y'all who live in Jasper County.  Jasper County residents pay auto insurance on fiduciary tables that rate by the number and type of accidents occurring in the county. I-95 traffic carries a vast number of non-residents who, when involved in an accident, count against the county as a statistic.

If accident and death rates drop on I-95 and it saves insurance rates for the locals bravo. Maybe its time for Jasper County to put a traffic camera further north.

Support the effort, it could mean lower auto insurance rates.