Thousands Of Pennsylvania Drivers Dinged With Fines Receiving Refunds Due To Flawed Speed Cameras
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) -- Thousands of Pennsylvania drivers who were dinged with fines after cameras supposedly caught them speeding through a Bucks County work zone are getting refunds.
PennDOT admits mistakes were made and is now issuing refunds to thousands of drivers.
"It's a system flaw," Dennis O'Sullivan, of Yardley, said.
O'Sullivan received in the mail a $75 speeding ticket after traveling through a work zone late in November of last year.
"There's supposedly speed cameras in effect with signage. I never saw any signage," O'Sullivan said.
"There's no signs," Peter Spera, of Bucks County, said.
Spera was also ticketed for speeding in November multiple times in the same area.
It happened within a PennDOT work zone along Route 1 in parts of Bensalem and Middletown Township, but he knew he wasn't speeding either.
"The second one was for $75 and the third one was for $150 and talking it over with my wife, we had no recollection of any kind of signage," Spera said.
"We just want the work zones to be safe," PennDOT acting deputy secretary Mike Keiser said.
Keiser said that "it was a mistake in my mind" for there not to be any signage on the road.
There were other mistakes, like the speed cameras not being calibrated as well as fines being issued before warnings.
"Some people were actually getting the fines before they were getting the warnings," Rep. Frank Farry said.
Farry represents Bucks County and says his office received many complaints about the work zone speed cameras.
"I actually had one of our police officers call me," Farry said, "and was like, 'yeah I had $1,000 in fines because I racked them all in this one week.' So the process wasn't working the way it was intended to work."
Adding speed cameras to work zones is a new program in Pennsylvania. For the 5,000 citations that were paid for alleged speeding tickets along Route 1, PennDOT says those drivers will be reimbursed.
PennDOT adds changes will be made to ensure these problems don't happen again.
