School-zone cameras will aim for speeders

Published 11:24 pm Saturday, March 5, 2016

ATLANTA — Ignoring flashing lights near schools can cost drivers, but citations may not always be handed to them by police officers.

Mail carriers could soon be the ones to deliver those tickets.

A measure already approved by House lawmakers makes way for cameras that catch drivers going more than 10 mph over the speed limit near schools. If the technology is adopted, fines would show up in the mail.

School-zone cameras are similar to the controversial technology already used in Georgia to catch toll violators, cars running red lights or those who fail to stop for school buses picking up or dropping off students.

But one lawmaker, Rep. Ed Setzler, has sounded the alarm about this approach.

Allowing cameras used to catch speeding drivers could quickly lead to cameras perched well beyond K-12 school zones, warned the Republican from Acworth. Cameras are “going to be everywhere” within a few years if this bill passes, he said.

“Any one of your constituents who drives 11 mph over the speed limit (in a school zone) will get flashed and get a $150 bill sent to them in the mail,” he said recently from the House floor.

“And, friends, that’s only where it starts,” he added.

The technology has already proved controversial in Georgia, and not just among motorists snared by the camera’s lens.

David Pennington, who was Dalton’s mayor when the city nixed a red-light camera program in 2009, remains skeptical that the technology is meant to make intersections safer. More than half of the citations issued in Dalton were for drivers who made a rolling right turn, he said.

“It’s a revenue grab. That’s all it is, and the government is grabbing enough out of our pocket as it is,” he said Friday.

Other communities have also abandoned their programs, as well, with Alpharetta and Gwinnett County most recently shutting off their cameras.

Currently only four cities and counties — Savannah, Marietta, Clayton County and Athens-Clarke County — have active permits for red-light cameras, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Gwinnett County Schools, for one, has cameras on its buses. But it’s unclear how many other school districts use them, since the state does not require permits for bus-mounted cameras.

State Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, said he believes the technology, if done right, can make roads near schools safer without enraging the public.

For example, cameras should only be running when school is in session, he said.

A school zone — defined as the roadways within 1,000 feet of a school — can be a vulnerable area. Legislators from the Atlanta area, for example, have noted recent incidents near schools in their districts where students were injured, or nearly injured.

Drivers should be extremely cautious in these areas, said Dickson, the former superintendent of Whitfield County Schools.

Cameras, he said, can be used as a tool to ensure that they are.

“Anything we can do to control the speed where there are buses and kids is important,” he said.

Where cameras are used in Georgia, violations would be a civil offense and would not count against a driver’s record. A certified officer would still have to review the photo evidence, and the driver could challenge the citation in court.

Setzler said he’s also troubled by how this approach will shift the burden of proof to drivers, who must prove their innocence against the camera technology.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, told lawmakers that he understands the concerns about this emerging technology.

Similar worries surfaced when law enforcement first started using radar, he added.

“There’s nothing magic about this. There’s nothing sinister,” he said. “These cameras are nothing more than a tool, no more than radar was.”

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.