The Delaware Department of Transportation's (DelDOT) Electronic Speed Safety Program began on Monday, which introduced speed cameras along the Interstate 95/State Route 896 interchange construction zone near the University of Delaware and Maryland border.
The first 21 days will be a grace period, DelDOT told NBC Philadelphia. After that, fines could exceed up to $100 with fees.
The cameras were approved by Delaware Gov. John Carney after he signed the Electronic Speed Safety Program into law in 2023. The bill allows for the speed limit to be posted at 55 mph in the construction zone on I-95.
Once the fines begin, a first offense will get a $20 fine, plus an extra dollar added for each mile per hour exceeding the posted speed limit, DelDOT said.
"For example, if the captured violation occurs at a speed of 66 mph, the speed violation is $20.00 plus an additional $11.00 which accounts for $1.00 for each mile per hour over the 55-mph posted work zone speed limit, and the assessment of other fees as set forth in Delaware Code for a total of $118.00," said DelDOT in a statement. "Second and subsequent offenses are higher, per Delaware Code."
Fines don't start until you exceed 11 miles per hour over the speed limit.
The biggest benefit of the cameras according to DelDOT is the potential to protect I-95 construction workers.
"This is our largest construction zone in the state right now," said C.R. McLeod, DelDOT spokesman to NBC Philadelphia. "And over the first year of the project we've had close to 100 crashes in that construction zone."
This isn't the first stretch of I-95 monitored by speed cameras. In 2022, DelDOT launched a similar program along a work zone on I-95 in Wilmington.
"Data from that pilot program showed a 46% decrease in total crashes and a 38% decrease in injury crashes compared to the same time period in 2021 when construction was also occurring," DelDOT said in a statement.
The data also showed people slowed down by an average of five mph after the speed cams went live, according to DelDOT.
Source: NBC Philadelphia, 6ABC.com
