Delegate Foley updates committee on bill to expand automated crosswalk cameras; members press for engineering fixes and financing details

Delegate Foley told the Montgomery County House delegation committee on land use, transportation and public safety that local bill MC 10-26 would authorize automated crosswalk enforcement—camera systems that detect pedestrians, pixelate the person in images and capture license plates for citation of vehicles that do not stop.

"This, the the goal of this bill is to, institute automated enforcement, think cameras, at crosswalks," Foley said, describing the technology and its operation. Foley said the current draft applies only to school zones but includes an amendment to expand the authority countywide and that county council approval would still be required for specific camera locations.

The bill will be revised to align with existing automated‑enforcement privacy rules, Foley and the chair said. "Based on the bill that was passed, last year, senate bill, 3 81 from 2025, which dealt with how, information collected by automated enforcement systems is treated, to protect privacy, that those conforming amendments will be prepared over the next week," the chair said.

Officer Chris Tipperary, representing the county’s automated‑enforcement office, voiced support for expanding the program beyond school zones, citing pedestrian collisions and fatalities. "We would support moving forward with expanding this to across the county," he said.

Several committee members pressed for more engineering work and financial safeguards before moving to enforcement. Delegate Moon, while expressing support for enforcement in principle, asked whether locations would be brought up to current safety standards before citations commence and whether enforcement revenues would be directed back to remediate high‑incident crossings. "If we have a revenue stream that's coming in ... Are we going to direct the resources back to address that problem?" Moon asked.

Foley said automated enforcement can produce the data needed to identify problem sites. She cited test results shown in the earlier hearing: "...they have put this technology as a test, without issuing any citations at several locations... 300 pedestrians during this 2 to 4 hour period, at least 7 crosswalks... And at the same time, there were 600 plus vehicles that were in violation of the crosswalk law," Foley said, arguing the data can guide improvements as well as enforcement.

Committee counsel told members an amendment limited to school zones was available now if the committee wished to adopt it; broader conforming amendments could follow. "We have the amendment prepared today for just for school zones if, the committee wants to adopt that 1," the staff member said.

Members also raised questions about vendor financing models and incentives. Vice Chair Wu recalled large vendor revenue in a prior school‑bus camera program and asked the committee to obtain local pilot results (Takoma Park) to evaluate effectiveness. The chair noted the draft contains a prohibition on bounty‑style vendor operations and said more amendment language would be developed before the committee considers action.

The committee did not take a vote. The chair said staff will prepare conforming privacy and other amendment language, gather vendor and pilot data, and return the bill to the committee for further consideration.