by Marlene Berlin
The red light camera on Nebraska at Fessenden is quite the attention hog.
It has been in the Chevy Chase listserv headlines for quite awhile. Since 2010, when it burst onto the scene, drivers riled up about the tickets and fines have been keeping it in the limelight. The camera has to be wrong, the drivers insist. They are certain they stopped before turning right. But they were wrong, and the videos of their offenses showed them so. But this just made the drivers angrier.
Letters from Deal and Murch parents came to the red light camera’s defense. There was a reason for this camera. It protected their children from drivers who may have thought they were stopping before turning right, but really weren’t. So the camera was saved.
And now ANC 3/4G will host Lisa Sutter, the head of MPD photo enforcement, at its September meeting Monday. She will be presenting on why we have this camera, where it is, and how it works. Perhaps this will satisfy this attention-starved red light camera, so it can just go back to keeping the students and other pedestrians safe as they truck along Nebraska and Fessenden.
ANC 3/4G meets Monday, September 9th, 7:30-9:30 p.m., at the Chevy Chase Community Center.
Marlene Berlin is the pedestrian advocate for Iona Senior Services and a member of DC’s Pedestrian Advisory Council.