A couple of years ago, the City of Valdosta had a safety problem. Three of our five elementary schools had become significant safety hazards in the places where vehicle traffic and student pedestrians overlapped.
Our community puts the highest possible priority on the safety of our children, so we went looking for a solution which we found in school zone safety cameras.
Why only three of our five schools? Because a safety and traffic review of all our school zones showed that only three had a traffic safety problem. We believe in facts when making policies in our community, and the facts led us to stand up and do something.
It worked. Speeds came down almost immediately, and our students, parents, and educators felt the difference. GDOT data from across the state shows that these traffic cameras and the threat of the tickets they issue cut speeding by around 90%, and I’d say our results were in line with that.
The process was a bit difficult. It required buy-in from schools, parents, and law enforcement, a detailed traffic and speeding analysis from GDOT, installation of flashing lights and signage, and the dedication of law enforcement personnel who review every infraction carefully before issuing a ticket.
It was worth it.
We have been very careful to only run the cameras during school days – never on weekends or holidays. We do find them to be particularly helpful in the middle of the school days when students are coming and going for sports and extracurricular activities as well as inevitable early dismissal, appointments and the like at a time when driver’s might not be thinking “school” as they enter school zones.
Our view is – and our community supports this – if you can’t slow down for a hundred yards or so through a school zone, you really need a sharp reminder about obeying the law . The ten miles per hour over the limit required to trigger a citation is, frankly, above the speed limit for the surrounding city streets even when school is not in session and the cameras are off.
It has not been a big revenue generator as speeding decreased quickly and has stayed low in these zones. We received only $92,000 in the 15 months or so we have been running the program. What we do receive goes to public safety programs and must be earmarked as such.
We are proud of our program in Valdosta. We worked hard to get it implemented, it works, and our kids are safer. The whole community is behind it and we all hope that the Georgia Legislature continues to support the principle of local control on local matters so we can continue to protect our kids in every way we know how.
-- Andy Gibbs is a city council member and educator Valdosta, Georgia
