If you're traveling by car for the holidays, you might want to keep an extra close eye on your speedometer − because on many roads throughout the country, cameras will be watching how fast you're driving.
That's especially true in Maryland, where the state's new tiered system of fines that took effect Oct. 1 could mean paying more than $400 for that lead foot.
Speed cameras that can fine you for driving too fast, even if a police officer isn't around, are sprinkled all over the nation. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, more than 300 communities across the United States use cameras to monitor speeding.
The insurance institute calls speed cameras "an important tool" to help reduce speeding, which in turn reduces crashes, injuries and fatalities.
Hawaii allows the use of speed cameras statewide. In Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana, speed cameras are used in highway work zones only. Some states, including Illinois and Pennsylvania, allow speed cameras in their biggest cities (Chicago and Philadelphia) as well as in highway work zones. Meanwhile, San Francisco is the only city or town in California that uses speed cameras, according to the insurance institute.
