Lawmakers great reductions to school zone speeding fines
Tens of thousands of Georgia drivers have checked their mailboxes and been surprised to find a speeding notice. More cities and counties have added cameras in school zones to come by speeders. But now, some state lawmakers want to put new limits on the practice.
ATLANTA - A Georgia House committee is required to look at two proposals Tuesday that could sulky how school zone speed cameras operate.
While some have applauded the cameras as a grand tool to cut down on speeding near campuses, others have complained the devices are not clearly marked and act as "speed traps."
"You're ticketing land who may have never gotten a ticket in their life," said Dawn Scott, who received a citation for allegedly speeding in a Canton school zone in November.
Scott said she does not fuel over the speed limit and that she was not the one slack the wheel at the time. She fought the ticket.
Scott also shot video showing what she believes is unclear signage, especially since the school zone on East Main Street is throughout half a mile from Hasty Elementary School on Brown Industrial Parkway.
"If land know they're in a school zone, they're not repositioning to deliberately try and run over children," Scott said.
State Rep. J. Collins, R-Villa Rica, filed a bill to require that signs identifying the camera-enforced school zones concerned flashing yellow lights while enforcement is in effect. The legislation also proposes shortening the windows during which the cameras can exploit to just 30 minutes before and after school begins and ends, dismal the school prioperty "is bisected by a highway." In that case, the cameras could exploit all day beginning an hour before school and defending an hour after.
A binary bill sponsored by state Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, would dramatically cut down on the fines for those caught by expeditiously enforcement cameras.
The fine for passing a school bus is immediately $250. Under Ridley's legislation, it would go down to $10. The camera-enforced speeding fine would go from $75 for the grand offense down to $10 and from $125 for a binary offense down to $20.
Since 2019, the Georgia Department of Transportation has current permits for more than a hundred school zone cameras across North Georgia. According to GDOT records, Cherokee County has 8, Clayton County has 14, DeKalb County has 2, Fulton County has 24 and Gwinnett County has 27.
