- Montgomery County is deploying six giant mobile speed cameras.
- The cameras replace vans and use ballistic-grade protective glass.
- Speeding fines can reach $1,000 in Maryland work zones.
If you thought the Tesla Cybertruck looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, wait until you see Montgomery County’s newest speed cameras. The county has begun rolling out six huge, angular mobile enforcement trailers that look less like traffic cameras and more like a rejected prop from Star Wars.
Built by German company Vitronic, the devices are officially called the Poliscan Enforcement Trailer. Unofficially, locals have already dubbed them the “Cybertruck cameras,” and it’s not hard to see why. With their sharp-edged silver bodies, sloped sides, and squat stance, they look like someone parked a miniature armored vehicle beside the road and forgot to move it. Here’s the wild part: the armor is real.
More: Virginia Drivers Triggered Speed Cameras Nearly A Million Times
Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard confirmed to WJLA that the front glass is ballistic-grade because previous cameras had been vandalized. Vitronic also says the trailers are designed with “optimum protections against potential vandalism,” which sounds like a very polite German way of saying, “go ahead, try it.”
Montgomery County Police confirmed that the six giant units are part of a larger automated traffic enforcement expansion announced last fall. In total, the county is adding 140 new speed cameras, including 96 smaller portable units and 38 fixed cameras in school zones. It’s also installing 76 additional red-light cameras.
Photos Vitronic
Unlike the old mobile speed camera setup, which required a van and an officer nearby, the new trailers can operate completely on their own. Police can monitor them remotely, move them between problem areas, and deploy them in places officials call “high-injury networks.” In other words, roads where speeding has become a recurring problem.
The fines remain unchanged, though they’re still painful enough to make most drivers lift off the throttle. Speeds between 12 and 15 mph (19 and 24 km/h) over the limit trigger a $40 ticket. Go 40 mph (64 km/h) or more over, and the fine jumps to $425. In construction zones, it can climb to $1,000.
