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Middletown officials say speed-camera pilot reduced violations; vendor presents data, answers accuracy questions
Summary
City officials reported early reductions in speeding after automated cameras were installed on Route 66 and Washington Street. The vendor showed compliance charts and described multi-step checks for citations; commissioners asked about resident impact, canvassing and the state's required 18-month study.
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — The Middletown Public Safety Commission on Aug. 18 heard interim results from an automated speed‑camera pilot that city officials say have reduced speeding on busy stretches of Route 66.
Chief Steve Costa told the commission that in the last 30 days the program generated roughly 16,000 notices or citations and that the department is seeing "a rapid decrease in speed" from the start of the project. He said cameras are active on Washington Street and installed but not yet activated on Country Club Road and in front of Spencer School while the city awaits required signage and a 30‑day public warning period before citations go into effect.
A vendor representative who presented charts for the Route 66 corridor said the program has moved a large share of drivers from noncompliance toward compliance and highlighted drops in the most egregious speeding categories. The vendor described an early-week comparison that showed "a 73% increase in how many people are compliant with the speeds" and "a 60% drop ... in reckless drivers," and emphasized the state's 18‑month study requirement before program conclusions are finalized.
Commissioners pressed the vendor and the chief on how many citations go to Middletown residents versus nonresidents. Chief Costa said about 2,000 of the roughly 16,000 citations issued over the last 30 days were to Middletown residents (about 10%); the vendor said the program's quality control includes multiple automated checks (optical character recognition) plus human review by retired traffic officers before a citation is issued.
The vendor said the company also analyzes vehicle images and trends to identify habitual offenders for targeted enforcement; the vendor added that canvassing and door‑to‑door outreach are typically done later in a program (around an 18‑month mark) rather than immediately.
Accuracy and due process: Commissioners raised concerns about misentered or inaccurate citations. The vendor described a four‑step review process that includes automated plate reads, cross‑checks and human review to reduce error; Chief Costa said the department reviews appeals and has voided tickets when appropriate.
Next steps: The commission requested additional crash data, which Chief Costa said he would report next month after comparing the pilot period with the same time frame last year. The cameras will remain under a warning phase at newly signed locations for 30 days before full citation issuance.
Quotes are taken from the Aug. 18 meeting transcript and attributed to meeting speakers.
