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Police Hit the Jackpot: New I-64 Speed Cameras Turn Work Zones into an ATM
JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. — Forget Powerball. The James City County Police Department has found a far more reliable path to financial bliss: automated $100 speed tickets that require zero paperwork, zero court appearances, and zero conversations with angry motorists. Just cold, hard, cash landing straight in the bank.
As of Monday, the department's cameras on westbound I-64 went fully live after a polite 30-day "warning" period that caught more than 10,000 vehicles doing 10 mph or more over the 60 mph work-zone limit. That's 10,000 free samples of future revenue, and now the real cash register is open.
No need for an officer to leave the donut shop. Just a polite civil summons for $100 winging its way through the mail like a winning lottery ticket, except the house always wins.
Lt. Steve Blackman, clearly struggling to contain his excitement, painted a vivid picture of the opportunity. "As I watch the infractions coming across the screen I feel like one of those cartoon characters with dollar signs flashing in their eyes"
Officials insist the program exists solely to protect construction workers and first responders, and who are we to argue? After all, nothing says "public safety" quite like an unmanned camera quietly vacuuming up hundreds of thousands of dollars. Other localities using the same system reportedly saw "significant reductions in speeding." They also, remarkably, saw significant increases in municipal revenue.
At this rate, James City County Police may soon need a larger evidence room, for all the money.