A new, unofficial sign posted on a Department of Transportation speed camera in Rockaway Beach serves as a reminder to drivers that the speeding tickets are costly.
"DOT ATM" was posted on the camera at Beach Channel Drive and Beach 104th Street sometime last week (or perhaps earlier — DNAinfo New York may not have noticed it before.)
The speed camera was installed last summer, near two schools, as part of the city's newest Vision Zero push.
But it immediately drew the ire of drivers around the peninsula who received the surprise tickets in the mail. Speeding motorists were racking up tickets as they broke the new 25 mph limit on Beach Channel Drive.
A Facebook page called "I Got a Speeding Ticket in Rockaway and Broad Channel" was created soon after the camera was installed and lead-footed drivers tried to brainstorm ways to "beat" the tickets, or just commiserate about getting "caught" at cameras around the peninsula.
One story from the Rockaway Rumormill™ claimed that someone racked up more than a dozen tickets in just a few weeks last summer.
The camera issued an average of 114 violations per school day in May of 2015, a DOT spokesman said.
He added that the speed camera program is about saving lives, not money — and it "provides consistent, predictable enforcement to deter drivers from speeding."
The "DOT ATM" sticker will be taken down soon, he said.
