On a recent afternoon on Maple Avenue in downtown Takoma Park, a tan minivan, traveling well beyond the 15-mph speed limit, blew past a stop sign and whizzed past a crossing guard.

It’s a common occurrence in this part of town. While kids disembark from school buses and chat among their friends, there is a dizzying mix of blaring car horns, rolling stops and flagrant traffic violations between Maple Avenue and Piney Branch Road.

A city study of its intersections found that “there were thousands of daily violations,” with some locations reaching a violation rate of 87%.

Efforts to improve the city’s traffic safety in school zones and at busy intersections have, so far, been inadequate, local officials say.

Downtown Takoma Park is already equipped with an assortment of traffic-calming measures, including flashing stop signs, school-zone speed limits and crossing guards.

The city has also embraced the Automated School Bus Enforcement Program, which captures images of vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses when their red lights are flashing.

Last month, the city announced it would deploy artificial intelligence-powered cameras at 10 intersections as part of a new pilot program to deter traffic safety violations.

The results of the four-year Automated Stop Sign Enforcement Program will have statewide implications, possibly expanding the use of artificial intelligence camera enforcement across Maryland.

Angie Newton, the Takoma Park crossing guard who watched as the tan minivan whizzed past her, says that the increased camera surveillance in the city is much-needed and long overdue.

“It needs some type of cameras,” Newton said. “Just like they have the red light cameras, that will be good, because up through here is very busy with the kids. I think it’s needed. It’s overdue.”

Takoma Park has increased school zone fines, added warning signs, and employed crossing guards, but Newton says that doesn’t go far enough to deter Maryland drivers.

“It’s bad when you’ve got the parents that have kids in the car, and they just drive straight through,” she said.

Shibu Philipose, the deputy chief of police at the Takoma Park Police Department, says that speed humps, curb extensions, raised crosswalks and narrowed roadways have been the most effective traffic-calming measures when implemented.

“However,” Philipose said, “they are also costly, require extensive planning, and are not immediately deployable.”

That’s why the small city, which many of its residents lovingly refer to as the People’s Republic of Takoma Park, is taking advantage of the state pilot program.

“The use of AI technology in law enforcement and automated enforcement tools are increasingly being used nationwide,” Philipose said. “It allows officers to focus their time and efforts on other community issues while automated enforcement technology manages these other enforcement tasks effectively. Most agencies do not have the manpower, nor is it efficient to assign an officer to one intersection for an entire shift, let alone for 24 hours.”

Baltimore City, under the same authorization approved by Gov. Wes Moore in May, will also take part in the four-year pilot program.

The state is contracting with California-based company Obvio, which is providing dozens of solar-powered AI cameras.

Obvio says its cameras leverage AI to reduce traffic fatalities and help make cities operate more efficiently. The company has already supplied cameras to Washington, D.C., and Prince George’s County.

The Maryland General Assembly is considering implementing these AI-powered cameras statewide.

Delegate Vaughn Stewart, a Democrat from District 19 in Montgomery County and the Chairman of the Motor Vehicle and Transportation Subcommittee, is enthusiastic about the program.

“We should commend the legislators that are willing to be added to this pilot program because the more jurisdictions that we have participating, the more data we have about whether this is something that should be pursued on a statewide basis,” Stewart said.

To measure the success of the pilot program, Philipose says the city will focus on several metrics.

“These include changes in driver behavior over time, monitoring crash data, trends in repeat violations, and overall citation volume, particularly whether violations decrease and drivers adjust their behavior,” Philipose said.

The city will also monitor community feedback, he said.

Montgomery County is considering other ways to improve traffic safety as part of its Vision Zero initiative and the state’s Zero Deaths campaign. University Boulevard may soon undergo major redevelopment in a controversial proposal that calls for widening sidewalks and adding bike-only and bus lanes, among other measures.

Last year, the county recorded 13 pedestrian-related traffic deaths, according to a statewide dashboard.

The new AI-powered stop sign cameras will begin issuing citations on Jan. 8.