Adelphi resident Charles Lutz received a letter from the city of College Park in late November, saying a camera caught him speeding Nov. 18 on Metzerott Road. Four more letters arrived in the next few days, saying he was caught a second time on Nov. 18, then once a day on Nov. 19, 21 and 26, in all receiving five $40 tickets.

Lutz and his wife, Mary, were skeptical of the camera's location, just a few hundred feet east of where the road's speed limit changes from 40 to 30 mph. The camera photographs motorists going a minimum 42 mph — 12 mph faster than the 30 mph limit — and Lutz was going 43, 43, 43, 43 and 44 mph, according to his citations.

The city activated cameras at three locations starting Nov. 15, and issued more than 8,600 tickets in three weeks, nearly 8,000 of which came from the Metzerott Road device, located between Adelphi Road and University Boulevard in a half-mile-radius school zone surrounding the University of Maryland, College Park. While city officials have insisted their main priorities were to cut speeding and increase safety rather than to generate revenue, some motorists complain the camera is a strategically placed speed trap.