An automatic speed camera citation was issued to a car owned by Daniel Doty for going 38 in a 25. But there was a problem, as his car was standing still. (Baltimore Sun video)


But the Mazda wasn't speeding.

It wasn't even moving.


The camera that wrongly ticketed Doty on April 24 is in Northeast Baltimore in the 1700 block of E. Cold Spring Lane, at the intersection with Hillen Road. It is the seventh city speed camera that The Baltimore Sun has shown to have produced inaccurate citations bearing erroneous speed readings.

Doty's is the first case in which the vehicle was clearly stationary. City officials gave no explanation for how it happened.





The Sun asked city officials why Doty's ticket was issued. Transportation Department spokeswoman Adrienne Barnes offered no explanation but said the agency would have more to say at Friday's meeting of a task force set up by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to study the city's entire speed and red light camera program. The city has 83 speed cameras and 81 red light cameras.

It isn't clear from the signature on the citation which police officer reviewed Doty's ticket, and police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi didn't say when asked, but added, "The department finds any error unacceptable." The department has said that a single officer can review up to 1,200 citations in a given day.

Xerox spokesman Chris Gilligan did not address Doty's citation. He noted in a statement that a "system-wide audit of the Baltimore photo enforcement program is ongoing and has resulted in implementing an additional manual review of citations at all camera locations."

The Sun recently published an investigation focusing on the city's speed camera program, which has generated more than $48 million since it began three years ago. The investigation found that citations can be inaccurate and that judges routinely throw out tickets for a range of problems.



