Xerox found to have programmed incorrect speed limit into red-light cameras in Baltimore, leading to thousands of bogus speeding tickets.
NBC Chicago reports that an investigation by Balitmore Sun earlier this year found that thousands of incorrect speeding tickets were issued by cameras incorrectly programmed by Xerox in Baltimore
According to the article, a camera on Cold Spring Lane programmed by the OEM resulted in 9,500 cases where the clocked speed was less than 12 mph above the speed limit, with 6,000 of these having to be voided as there was an unexplained error in the speed limit inputted into the camera, which appeared as 30 mph instead of 25 mph.
It also issued, along with other similar cases, a citation that a truck was travelling at 70 mph in a 35 mph zone, when time-stamped photographs indicated that the truck was actually travelling at around 41 mph.
The city and Xerox were reportedly informed of the errors by a truck operator before many of the incorrect tickets were issued; and the article states that Balitmore’s 83 cameras have accumulated almost $70 million (€52.8 million) from fines since 2009.
Xerox, which took $19.20 (€14.50) from every $40 (€30) fine, was reportedly replaced by Brekford, a cheaper vendor taking $11.20 (€8.46) from every fine, but errors continued, with 590 tickets having to be voided from a single incorrectly-programmed camera.
Despite its previous errors in Baltimore, Xerox has now been selected to run Chicago’s red-light camera programme, replacing Redflex.