Hope for Slow Down With Seven Courts Speed Camera
A longtime resident said it's too early to tell how a speed camera will impact Seven Courts traffic.
When Linda Bain bought her home 26 years ago, Seven Courts Drive was a dead-end road.
But as Seven Courts became a major connector to several streets and hundreds of homes, Bain watched traffic escalate, speeds rise and vehicle accidents increase.
"I wanted to live on a public street, but not a busy street," Bain said. "Now, what do you do? It's horrible."
In recent years, at least five vehicles—belonging to herself, family members and friends—have been struck or damaged near her home by speeding or reckless drivers, she said.
When a 68-year-old woman was struck and killed while trying to cross Seven Courts near Joppa Road in January, Bain said she wasn't surprised.
The traffic conditions compelled her to contact County Councilman David Marks' office about the potential for traffic calming measures, she said. Marks recently contacted her about the installation of a speed camera near Seven Oaks Elementary, just a stone's throw from her home.
Following some delays, Baltimore County police activated the speed camera on July 13.
The camera will issue only warnings until a full 30 days after activation, but afterward, drivers in the designated school zone who exceed the speed limit by at least 12 mph will receive a $40 citation. Based on state law, speed cameras operate year-round, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
"The goal is to have people slow down, especially in the school zone," said Officer Mark Dorsey of the Parkville precinct.
He added that if problems with speeding and recklessness through the area persist, residents should call 911 or the Parkville precinct at 410-887-5310.
"We wouldn't set up radar [near the speed camera], but it is possible to set it up in another area of Seven Courts," Dorsey said.
Bain said she hopes the speed camera will improve the way drivers maneuver Seven Courts, but she doesn't expect habits to change immediately.
"Right now, it's so new—it's really hard to say if it will make a difference," she said.
How do you expect the speed camera to impact traffic on Seven Courts? Tell us in the comments.
In This article
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David Marks
Joined Patch Wednesday, September 29, 2010 -
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Seven Oaks Elementary
9220 Seven Courts Dr, Nottingham, MD -
RickF
11:15 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
So it's ok to speed after 8pm and before 6am?
lisa C
11:26 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Its only going to slow the cars right in that spot. And you can still go 12 mph over the speed without getting ticketed. I think its a waste of money. And as far as speeding after 8pm, that's when all the teenie boppers are out driving and speeding up and down seven cts. Just my 2 cents..
Tim
1:33 pm on Friday, August 3, 2012
I love how its so stealthily installed too. I can BARELY see it.
Ashley W.
12:22 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
You can speed on nights and weekends?
Tim
1:32 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Emily is milking this for all its worth, lol.
FIFA_archived
1:57 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
She must get paid by "hit". How much?
Emily Kimball
11:27 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
Milking it? I haven't written that much about the speed camera. I figured it deserved a followup since it's been installed.
Emily Kimball
11:31 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
@FIFA, I'm paid salary, but delivering local news to an expanding number of community members brings me a lot of personal satisfaction :)
Tim
12:25 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Emily: I'm just yanking your chain. but seriously, 2 threads in a week wasn't enough? :)
FIFA_archived
6:49 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Same as Tim, pulling your ankle, sorry if you were offended. Obviously you get paid, none of us work for free.
Penny
3:38 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Although I think it's a good idea to keep down the speed, if you are coming out of that side street onto Seven Courts, it's a little hard to see cars coming up the hill. The device blocks the view a little, and cars have to creep out to see what's coming. It's already hard to see oncoming cars because of the hill. This may actually cause some accidents.
Photoradarscam
4:22 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
What other traffic engineering solutions were evaluated? I expect the city did what many others have done which is to jump to the revenue generator despite no conclusive studies that they have any impact on safety. Rather than solve the problem through traffic engineering, the city is choosing to CASH IN on the problem. Drivers will simply speed up after they pass the camera anyway. You need real traffic engineering to fix a problem like this, not a cash cow.
Other Tim
5:29 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
You speed, you pay. I have no problem with that. Call it a tax, if you wish.
Mike Fisher
2:36 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Of course that's what they do. They evaluate one thing: what makes us money? The safety of people is a distant second. Traffic engineering would raise speed limits because I guarantee they are too slow. People not paying attention, that causes accidents, at ANY speed and that's the REAL problem. Raise the limits. Other states get the message, they've even eliminated speed limits in some areas and raised in others and what do you know, it's improved the situation. Studies have been done proving raising speed limits lowers accidents and fatalities which I posted in another thread, but no one wants to hear that. Just keep on with the tunnel vision and believe these cameras are ANYTHING more than revenue generators. Yeah, that solves problems, doesn't it? You people don't want solutions, you just want anything, effective or not.
Jeanne
6:24 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
People are slowing down by the camera but speeding up as soon as they are past it. I pull out of the circle across from the senior center a lot and it is really dangerous on one side, because of lack of line of sight, and the other not much better. Sometimes you do have to hit the gas to get out of one of these roads (can never spell it right) and can slow down as soon as you have completed your turn but the camera is right there. Don't worry I have never done over 35 coming out of the road to Seven Courts and always safelty slow down. I actually got a ticket one time when I pulled out, thank goodness the judge gave me pbj when I explained the situation. Both sides of the school, before & after, people speed up and are careless.
Jeanne
6:26 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
I meant to say both sides of the camera people speed up and are careless.
Mike Fisher
2:39 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Driving fast by itself is not "careless" anymore than talking on your cell phone in a store is "careless". Put them both together, that's careless. Common sense. When people drive faster, they are more alert. Slower, less alert because its boring and less perceived attention is required to control the car because people feel safer driving faster.
Mike Fisher
2:59 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Here's even another angle to look at it from. You're at home, watching TV, but you're bored. Your full attention isn't needed or being occupied, so what do most people do? They keep the TV on, but they'll clean the house or get on the computer or finish up some work that needs to be done. If you're watching a TV show you're REALLY into, all your attention is on that TV and nothing will distract you.
Driving slow is like watching a boring TV show, so people get on cell phones or fiddle with the radio or other things to occupy their attention because their full attention isn't needed to drive slower than a snail. Driving fast is like that TV show you can't miss a second of, your full attention is NEEDED to be focused on that show. That is the difference between driving fast and slow and that, IMO, is one reason people drive fast. Another is because it's just fun, but driving fast requires more attention from the driver and therefore, you have more alert drivers. Speeding doesn't cause accidents, not paying attention and occupying your unused cognitive functions, attention and coordination does. This is why studies show driving fast is safer. That makes sense.
Jeanne
6:35 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Mike is a very careful driver and respectful of all the laws
and I am a Millionaire lmao
Mike Fisher
2:43 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
A clean record for nine years is not luck. I just know how to drive a car and I understand SITUATIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. That's why I don't get pulled over. I know how to use common sense behind the wheel, the ones that don't get pulled over. Simple as that.
Mike C.
6:43 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
I deliver in that area and live there. It is a speedway. I wish they would just put a few cops there for about a week every so often, more than they do know. Like so many said once you get past the camera,people speed up. Hey though its in a school zone so the kids are a little safer.
Jeanne
7:05 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
I agree they should have cops on the road doing radar. I have gone down Silver Spring and there have been 3 cop cars in the same area. I could understand 2, one to do radar the other one to chase the person that doesn't want to pull over but why 3? Can't that cop be somewhere along Seven Courts giving out tickets?
Mike Fisher
2:11 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
It won't do S, that's what it will do. Waste of hope and money not to mention time and resources (funds). up, a sign of progression, fight the times. Way to go. It won't work, they don't work, and as far as I know aren't proven to work. Raise the speed limits, lower the leniency and punish the REAL unsafe drivers, not people who know how to drive a car in a straight line. No common sense used, as usual. Just throw up some speed cameras and "hope" instead of protesting, petitioning, and raising hell for a traffic light a crosswalk in front of Seven Oaks.
Like I said before, you guys in favor of this don't want real solutions, you just want any solution whether it works or not. Speed limits are too low, average speeds on the streets prove it, change the laws. Majority over minority. More severe punishments for unsafe drivers, that solves problems. Points, loss of license, fines, that solves problems. Solutions that don't work solve nothing, but you guys are all for that. Sure, you are, because you don't REALLY want solutions, you just want something, ANYTHING done whether it works or not. You all admit it doesn't work, yet you support it, then complain they don't work? Like I said before, way to get things done, guys. Great plan.
Mike Fisher
2:13 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Speed humps in front of Seven Oaks and all school zones to slow traffic? Noooo, of course no one wants that because it makes too much F'n sense! People are so frustrating, if you were only better at using your noggin, things would change and get better. Avoiding common sense like the plague, you guys got that down pat, masters if I shall say so myself.
Mike Fisher
2:15 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
It's like you guys would all rather sit home and complain on here than actually DO something about anything. Learn how to organize and try to make a difference, that's how you change things. All you guys want to do is complain.
Mike Fisher
6:18 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Nothing because it's already happening across the US. People are finally understanding that speed limits are too low, need to be raised, are being raised or eliminated and bills being passed to raise them in other areas. I don't have to do anything, you guys are the minority with the issue, yes?
Mike Fisher
5:42 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Geez, Evets, are you ashamed of your own posts or what? You just ask people things, they answer, then you delete your question and make the thread make no sense at that point in the conversation. What's the deal with always deleting your posts? Why post at all then?
Mike Fisher
8:01 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Evets, if someone hits you on your bike, I promise it won't be me, but your sources are compelling. I quote:
Q. Isn’t slower always safer?
A. No, federal and state studies have consistently shown that the drivers most likely to get into accidents in traffic are those traveling
significantly below the average speed. According to an Institute of Transportation Engineers Study, those driving 10 mph slower than
the prevailing speed are six times as likely to be involved in an accident. That means that if the average speed on an interstate is 70
mph, the person traveling at 60 mph is far more likely to be involved in an accident than someone going 70 or even 80 mph.
Q. Wouldn’t everyone drive faster if the speed limit was raised?
A. No, the majority of drivers will not go faster than what they feel is comfortable and safe regardless of the speed limit. For example,
an 18-month study following an increase in the speed limit along the New York Thruway from 55 to 65 mph, determined that the average
speed of traffic, 68 mph, remained the same. Even a national study conducted by Federal Highway Administration also concluded
that raising or lowering the speed limit had practically no effect on actual travel speeds."
Mike Fisher
8:26 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Well, two comments still pending approval, I guess I copy/pasted too fast. Bottom line is: I told you so. :p Speeding causes only 2.2% of accidents. That source basically proves and echos everything I've been saying all along.
http://www.motorists.org/speed-limits/speed-limit-fact-sheet.pdf
Mike Fisher
11:59 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
There have been a view that some posted saying that my opinions are wrong, but not even including this link you provided, I have provided far more to show that I am correct as well as speed limits being changed and reduced in other areas. The evidence backs what I am saying much more often than what others are saying. Plenty of studies proving driving faster is safer and higher speed limits are safer, plenty. Lawmakers in several counties in several states are already trying to or have raised or eliminated speed limits in certain areas. Times are changing, that's proof enough, but your link summarized it all beautifully and simply put, that's all. That link was far from the only one posted that were saying the same things either with studies or through other states raising or eliminating speed limits or trying to including Montgomery County. It's coming, it's just a matter of time and it won't be a minute too soon.
Mike Fisher
6:23 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
By the way, a little rundown of my drive to Perry Hall Lanes, then to Weis, then down Joppa to Harford, to Summit and back to SCD.
I saw two people change lanes without turn signals with cars in close proximity (dangerous), two people make turns into streets without using a turn signal, a guy sitting in the middle of one of the lanes on Summit Ave looking down at his lap blocking the road (probably cell phone related) and there was an accident between Walther and Magdlet road. I drove past pretty slow to check it out. There were two ambulances, two police cars, both lanes were blocked off, but I only saw one disabled vehicle which had only minor damage to the driver side front of the car. I didn't see another damaged vehicle. By the time I reached Summit, traffic was moving over there again, but slowly. I'm sure we'll hear about what happened there soon enough.
Mike Fisher
6:28 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
.. and all those dangerous things I saw on the road today were NOT speed related, they were idiot related and not knowing how to drive properly related. The court is still out on that accident, I really couldn't tell very much about what happened or how bad it was. It didn't look like any property was damaged, just one disabled vehicle in one of the lanes with minor damage and a bunch of cops and two ambulances.
I'm sure Emily will be all over it ASAP.
elmilio radvanski
5:09 am on Saturday, July 21, 2012
anyone?
why did the sidewalk Fleamarket
get removed fron that street?
sheesh !
Jeanne
6:56 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
The fleamarket was put to a stop because people were parking illegal and making things even more difficult on Seven Courts. Very few people that had tables were parking illegal, it was the people looking around to lazy to walk. The police were getting constant calls on the day of the fleamarkets because of the problem. The police did come out and give people a chance to move their cars but some people were very nasty and refused to move their cars. The police gave tickets out and when then didn't work towed some cars. People were still ignorant even after a woman was hit and killed because neither she nor the driver had a clear view because of illegally parked cars. I was one of the comunity people out there taking pictures and reporting tag numbers of illegally parked cars, we asked that the people that had tables that were parking legal please be able to continue but we were told no more fleamarket.
mike magee
5:38 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Why after 20 years did that area become a shool zone? To slow ttaffic, put in a four stop and speed bumps. That circle is a hazzard and is going to cost a life, no one yields or slows down.
Jeanne
6:59 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
I have lived here for 12 years and was familar with the area before that and it was always a school zone. Rules weren't inforced as much because the school is not directly on Seven Crts.
Bill Howard
8:32 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
That big metal box is so ugly. I wonder what else they are watching.
Other Tim
9:35 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Page 4, today's Baltimore Sun:
Headline: "Well, so much for that 10-mph 'cushion'"
Maryland State Police spokesman Sgt. Marc Black says the belief that there is a 10-mph cushion for speeding is a fallacy. The article says "Statewide, 26 percent of all officer-issued speeding citations went to drivers clocked going 1 to 9 mph over the limit, according to the data from the 2011 fiscal year." The article also says the fine is $80 and one driver's license point for going less than 10mph over.
Mike Fisher
12:43 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
The speed cameras had the 12mph leniency, not everywhere. I believe it was 7mph over that was always the "cushion", but I will continue to drive at speeds safe for me and you guys can continue driving 10mph slower than everyone else and put yourself at higher risk for accidents, that's your choice and if you do get into an accident for doing so, all studies done show and prove that it would be all your fault. :)
Mike Fisher
2:34 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Just to clarify, that little smiley face does not mean I *want* anyone to get into accidents, I just want people and laws to continue catching up to the times, that's all. I wish no one in any accidents for any reason, but the studies are done for a reason and that is to show why accidents happen. The studies also prove that speed limit laws are outdated and, in fact, make roads unsafe because they are fighting advancement and common sense. Cops shouldn't be wasting time with this nonsense and if traffic laws more closely matched the speed of the majority of traffic, there would be more cops available to stop real crimes instead of sitting around sipping coffee pointing radar guns around and courts would be freed up to deal with real criminals. That is advancement in law enforcement and making not only the roads safer, but the entire country. We don't have the police manpower to keep up with it all. Change is needed and if the studies and growing speed limit changes around the country are any indication, this much needed change is finally coming. It's about time. People are too slow to change, but that is just part of being human, I guess. We all resist change in some ways, some more than others, but it really is needed and this time, it's sufficiently backed up with numerous studies and countless years of data accumulation. The time is now and it's coming.
Mike Fisher
1:10 pm on Friday, August 3, 2012
I saw an accident today at the intersection of Harford/Joppa Road. I pulled into the bank parking lot there to check out the scene and apparently, a woman ran a light and T-boned a police car. The woman's car was totaled from front end damage and the police car had moderate side damage from front to back. No one seems to have been seriously injured.
While I was there, the woman was on her cell phone the whole time. Could she have been talking on it at the time of the accident? Either way, it seems obvious that she ran a light and hit a police car. Speed related? No, idiot related and possibly even cell phone related.
Of all the cars to hit, she hit a police car. How unlucky is that? At any rate, she wasn't in handcuffs or anything, so maybe more information will come out about what happened.