In many cities and counties of Virginia as well as the rest of the nation, Speed Cameras are being installed in school zones and I am grateful for this…
My county has just finished the installation at most of the schools… They have installed the Warning Signs well ahead of the School Zone (the area where the flashing lights are located) to allow the motorist time to slow down before hitting the school zone.
This has been widely covered by the local news and they are allowing a 30-grace period where violators will receive a notice rather than a $100 citation. The cameras will record the vehicle if it exceeds the speed limit by more than 10 MPH in designated school zones, so they can still speed in the school zone, but not as much…
I had proposed a progressive fine that increases with subsequent violations, but that was not approved.
This is the link to my counties’ program in case you would like to propose the same thing in your area…
In the photo, the Speed Camera Warning Sign is about 300-feet prior to the School Zone Flashing Lights Sign, and the school is located 500-feet beyond the School Zone Flashing Lights Sign.
Similar Thread from 18 days ago, but for red lights…
So what is the cost of these?? They will require maintenance down the road also…
Why not pay real people to control traffic, maybe body cams that the crossing guard could take a picture of the vehicle with, or a button to trigger a camera up high … The government is not know for well spent money…
Most of our school zones in my county have one or two Sheriffs or city Police sitting in their vehicles ready to light you up, but we didn’t defund our police either… They will be sitting or driving around somewhere anyway, might as well be at the school zones, no extra cost involved…
Sometimes they have their cruiser(s) parked with lights flashing in the middle of the road being the crossing guard(s), best deterrent I have seen yet…
All the school zones in my county do have deputies out of their cars (the lights are on…) directing traffic, trying to control the chaos of hundreds of parent driving their kids to school so they do not have take the school bus. If there is a speeder, it is not a very smart idea to start a high-speed pursuit in the school zone. So the safest thing is to just photograph them and put a dent in their wallet….
Our officers are smart enough to be at either end of the school zone while in the vehicles so they do not have to chase anyone in a school zone… If they are in the middle of the road directing traffic as a crossing guard, then the traffic is normally enough to keep anyone from speeding… Again, I am not in a big city, and this is in my county as already stated… Your situation may differ…
Maybe the kids should ride the bus instead of mommy driving them to school, my daughter turned out better than most and she road the bus until she was able to drive herself, after all someone in power said everyone loves a yellow bus… lol
Still didn’t answer about the cost factor involved…
That’s more expensive than speed traffic control cameras IMO. We have cameras in school buses and also speed cameras in school zones. The 13 school cameras are rotated weekly to different locations. There are 78 schools in the county making the rotation schedule about every 6 weeks. The school speed camera locations are disclosed in a website and I look at it weekly to make sure I’m driving the speed limit or less when the cameras are in roads I travel.
We only have 52 schools, so much less… So all the speeders just have to look in advance at a website to see if they can speed in that school zone or not without getting a ticket?? Am I missing something??
Cops on patrol have to be in there car somewhere, most of the time sitting somewhere looking for speeders anyway, why is it more costly to have them at a school location vs anywhere else??
Cops are not posting on a website where they will be, so even if not at the school zone when needed, it would be random and more out to slow traffic if you are not sure about a ticket or not…
If you are missing something it’s that the object is to control speed and not collect fines. I find that I’m more diligent on those roads even when the cameras aren’t there.
That appears to apply to WA but in the state I live (MN), it is the law to stop on a four-lane with a double-yellow whereas in WA you can proceed with caution.
For less than 9 mph over, I’d prefer an indefinite warning period, & only issue a fine after the first warning has been already issued . If their current technology to keep track of who has received a warning can’t do that, better to spend $$ to improve the technology than issue fines on the first offense. Fines for minor offenses greatly hurt the local business community, especially retail stores and restaurants. Those businesses are already suffering b/c of Covid, no need to pile on.
This is getting off topic but what are you basing that comment on? As someone that owned two retail businesses during and after COVID (sold both in 2022), I can tell you that most (not all) retail businesses thrived during that time, especially in 2021 and 2022. Between PPP loans to the businesses (most were forgiven which meant tax-free money) and all the stimulus checks, consumers spent and spent.
Just look at the total of retail sales by year from census.gov:
2018 = $5.25T
2019 = $5.40T (up 2.9%)
2020 = $5.57T (up 3.1%)
2021 = $6.52T (up 17.0%)!
2022 = $7.04T (up 8.0%)!
2023 = $7.20T (up 2.3%)
After many years of driving a school bus and being a district transportation director, I don’t believe that the situation has changed much when it comes to speed zone or stop sign violations. That is despite newer buses have the capacity to snap a picture of violating vehicles as they fly past the bus, lights flashing and stop arm deployed. I’ve been passed by vehicles going both directions and on both sides of the bus. Having a car go past an open passenger door from which children are about to be discharged in pretty frightening. Having vehicles pull out from behind the bus and pass when kids are crossing the road is also pretty scary.
The school zone is a related but separate issue. Good for the jurisdictions where visible enforcement is utilized. In the small town where I was employed, the patrol car was more often in hiding. I’ve seen them come blasting out of their discreet location and through the school zone chasing a violator. End result was 2 vehicles speeding in the school zone! Visibility increased compliance; stealth enhances revenue.
I believe that toll roads are using similar, but far more supplicated systems to assess tolls as well as detect vehicles registered to drivers whose licenses are suspended or revoked. A nearby patrol vehicle is notified and “gotcha.”
It took some doing and it has been a number of years ago that the school zone was outfitted with better school zone lights. Seems to me that it was a few thousand dollars and that didn’t include any cameras - just waring lights.
A lot of these roads don’t have shoulders. Where is the police car going to park? Also, this is a poor use of an officer’s time and would likely mean having to hire more police. Our county has budget problems already and doesn’t need higher expenditures.
+1
While electronic speed cameras aren’t cheap, they are a whole heap cheaper–in terms of both money and the practical use of police personnel–than using a cop and a police vehicle.
