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Riverdale Park now is able to install speed cameras near schools.
The Town Council approved a measure at its Oct. 5 meeting that gives the town the authority to install speed cameras near certain local schools.
The measure established school zones in which the town could install speed cameras within a half-mile of Riverdale Elementary, Parkdale High, DeMatha Catholic High, St. Bernard's Elementary and William Wirt Middle schools.
The resolution created school zones along certain routes on East-West Highway, Taylor Road, Good Luck Road, Route 1, Riverdale Road and Kenilworth Avenue.
Municipalities, except those in Montgomery County, didn't have the authority to install speed cameras until a new state law went into effect Oct. 1 that gives municipalities and counties the authority to install speed cameras within a half-mile of schools.
The new state law also permits the state to install the cameras near highway work zones.
Under the law, motorists driving 12 mph over the posted speed limit from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays will receive warnings during the first 30 days that the cameras are in operations. After that, motorists will receive $40 tickets that carry no points.
Councilman David Lingua (Ward 3), who introduced the measure Sept. 8, said he hopes cameras will go up by the end of the year.
The revenue from the cameras pays for their cost, Police Chief Teresa Chambers has said.
Councilwoman Alice Ewen Walker (Ward 1) said she supported the measure because it makes the roads safer, such as on Good Luck Road by Parkdale High.
"We really have ridiculous speeding on Good Luck Road, especially, so the legislation the state passed has provided us with a tool where we can reduce traffic violations and increase safety," she said.
Chambers has said it's particularly difficult for officers to pull over speeding motorists along East-West Highway and Good Luck Road because of high pedestrian traffic and lack of shoulders on the road.
"When we attempt to run radar, we cause more of a problem," she told The Gazette in September.
The school zone routes are East-West Highway eastbound from Beale Circle East to Kenilworth Avenue, westbound from Kenilworth Avenue to 46th Avenue, and in both directions from the Anacostia River Northeast Branch Bridge to Riverdale Road; Taylor Road from Longfellow Street to Tuckerman Street; Good Luck Road in both directions from about 500 feet east of Kenilworth Avenue to about 100 feet west of Crest Park Drive; Route 1 northbound from Sheridan Street to about 100 feet south of Madison Street, and southbound from East-West Highway to 100 feet north of Oliver Street; Riverdale Road from Kenilworth Avenue to East-West Highway; and Kenilworth Avenue in both directions between Carters Lane and Riverdale Road, and between Riverdale Road to Good Luck Road.
E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.