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Q&A- Should School Zone Speeding Cameras Be Used in Florida?
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Today’s Entry: Heard you talk about speeding cameras in school zones. Sounds like red light cameras which were a waste of money. If they do this, what would it look like?
Bottom Line: So, the proposal itself was first introduced last October by Republican Ana Maria Rodriguez and Democrat Annette Taddeo in advance of this year’s legislative session. The first sign this bi-partisan bill might have legs in this year’s state legislative session came prior to the official start of the session. In November, the Senate Education Committee passed it through on a unanimous vote, indicating broad bi-partisan support. Once the session was underway it once again saw a unanimous recommendation by the Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Committee. Having cleared its first two stops – it was due for an Appropriations Committee vote. It recently cleared that one as well by a 14-5 margin. So, what’s specifically in it? And would it be a waste of money?
The Legislation entitled Enforcement of School Zone Speed Limits is summarized as follows: Authorizing counties and municipalities to enforce speed limits on certain road areas and at specified periods through the use of speed detection systems; authorizing counties and municipalities to install, or contract with a vendor to install, speed detection systems; requiring counties and municipalities that install speed detection systems to provide certain notice to the public; authorizing counties and municipalities to authorize traffic infraction enforcement officers to issue traffic citations for certain violations, etc.
So, as it states, and similar to the aforementioned red-light cameras, if this legislation becomes law, it doesn’t ensure that all school zones would have speeding cameras installed. Instead, it would be up to local governments to decide what they want to do. As for what the legislation would enable local governments to do if they were to implement school zone speed limit cameras? Any driver speeding 10 mph or more above the speed limit would be ticketed. The tickets would be sent to drivers in the mail and the cost would be a standard $158. As for where that money could go? The legislation provides flexibility for local governments to allocate it to the Florida Department of Revenue, county operating budget, municipal operating budget, or the school district to be used for school safety initiatives. Given access to those additional funds, and to be able to produce them in the name of safer school zones, you might imagine many local governments would be likely to install the cameras. We also already have an example of what this might look like.
Fairfax Virginia just started their own program in January that effectively is what would be used in Florida if the proposed legislation becomes law. During the first month of speeding cameras being used in Fairfax, with the same 10mph or higher standard, 3,420 warnings were issued to drivers. That’s in a county of only 1.1 million people, or one that’s far smaller than Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach County. What’s more is South Florida’s previously proven to have had the least safe school zones in the country. A 2018 study showed Florida has the least safe school zones nationally due to risky driving behavior, with the entire Tri-County grading out as an “F” for school zone safety. As for the comparisons to red light cameras...
I don’t agree with comparisons between red light cameras and school zone speeding cameras. There’s far more subjectivity involved with the timing of the issuance of tickets associated with red light cams and there’s mixed evidence as to if they make roads safer. A twelve-year study of red-light cameras published in Scientific American resulted in this conclusion: We found no evidence that red light cameras improve public safety. They don’t reduce the total number of vehicle accidents, the total number of individuals injured in accidents or the total number of incapacitating injuries that involve ambulance transport to a hospital. Conversely, we know that slower speeds through school zones do lead to safer school zones. I have little doubt people receiving $158 tickets for every violation would think twice before speeding through school zones in the future.
Now, will this become law? While its been a quick mover in Senate committees, it remains to be seen if it’ll clear a full Senate vote – also Governor DeSantis hasn’t indicated whether he’d sign it into law. The biggest obstacle remains the House where the companion legislation hasn’t been given the time of day as of now.