A Plan to Fix Baltimore's Speed Cameras By Reversing the Incentives

Baltimore's particular speed camera problem first came to light in 2012, when the Baltimore Sun revealed that at least seven of the city's 83 radar cameras, all of them owned and operated by Xerox State and Local Solutions, were prone to issuing fines to drivers who were not exceeding the speed limit. Xerox itself claimed it found only five cameras that didn't work, and shut them down. The city, meanwhile, downplayed the problem even further, claiming the error rate for Xerox speed cameras was "one-quarter of one percent." In short: Nothing to see here!

Xerox's contract with Baltimore ended in 2012, but the deal is making headlines again thanks to a recent audit showing the company's cameras performed worse than even the Sun realized. The big takeaway? That error rate of "one-quarter of one percent"—promoted by city officials!—was actually upwards of 10 percent; 26 percent of issued citations were "questionable."