Why Should Delaware Care?
A total of 39 people have died on Delaware roads in 2025 so far, with speeding cited for many of those instances. In response to dangerous roads, a groundswell of residents have called for stricter enforcement. But is automated ticketing the answer?
The New Castle County Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that allows for the installation of ticket-issuing speed cameras on county roads in northern Delaware.
During their Tuesday meeting, council members said the cameras will give police a tool to better enforce speeding and reckless driving. They further said that the cameras will first be installed along Milltown Road near Marshallton.
The camera system will ticket drivers that are recorded going 11 mph or more above the posted speed limit. A police officer will review all such automated citations before they are sent to the owner of a ticketed vehicle.
The approval of the traffic system follows what residents of the Marshallton area say has been a years-long traffic safety problem on Milltown Road.
Following Tuesday’s council meeting, longtime resident Jill Orensky recounted to Spotlight Delaware how in early 2024 she watched a Subaru veer off of Milltown Road and crash into her home, destroying the gas meter.
She further said that Milltown Road has become so busy that it is hazardous even to get mail out of her mailbox.
“The only way to make a safe place is we need streets for people instead of roads for commuters,” Orensky said.
Even before the crash, Orensky said she and her neighbor Dorothy Reader had been lobbying local council members, legislators and law enforcement officials on a need to quell excessive speeding.
The New Castle County Council would not have been able to approve an electronic speed monitoring system without an action from the state legislature, which in 2023 passed House Bill 94, allowing for the introduction of speed cameras statewide.
The county’s program, once launched, will be in a trial period for five months. After that, the council and a county traffic unit supervisor will formally review the program’s effectiveness, New Castle County Police Col. James Leonard said.
The cameras themselves will be leased from Toronto-based Elovate – a company that specializes in automated speed cameras.
Elovate’s relationship with Delaware began years ago with a truck monitoring system, and continued with the implementation of speed cameras at construction sites on Interstate 95.
The company recently installed some of the first speed cameras in the county when it was contracted by the city of Newark to cover a stretch of Capitol Trail last year.
The installation, operation and maintenance of the cameras will be handled by the company.
The lease for the cameras will cost the county $5,700 per month, according to the county council. That price tag will be covered by the state for the duration of the five-month trial period, amounting to $28,550.
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