Brookhaven will become the latest metro Atlanta city to use automatic speeding cameras in school zones.
The City Council approved a contract with RedSpeed, a company that has partnered with more than 20 city and county police departments in Georgia since 2018, when a new state law allowed their cameras.
RedSpeed will install the cameras for free around Montgomery Elementary School, St. Martin’s School and Cross Keys High School, the city said.
The cameras automatically flag drivers going more than 10 mph over the speed limit. A police officer reviews the tape and approves a ticket, which is mailed to the address associated with the speeder’s car.
The company takes a 35% cut of ticket revenues. Tickets start at $75 and go up to $125 for repeat offenders. These fines are generally less than if a police officer had pulled over a driver and written a ticket, and they do not add points to a driver’s license.
RedSpeed has also partnered with other cities, including Norcross, Lilburn and Duluth.
“We studied several school zones and found that speeding during school hours is an exceptional problem, threatening the safety of our most vulnerable pedestrians,” Deputy Police Chief Brandon Gurley said. “The scope of the problem far exceeds what traditional traffic enforcement can meaningfully address.”
Last August, officers went to each school and tracked the number of speeders over an 11-hour period. Police spotted about 400 and 470 outside of Montgomery and St. Martin’s, respectively, according to a city report.
At Cross Keys, which is off busy North Druid Hills Road, officers saw 2,230 speeders, which is more than 200 every hour, police said.
Credit: City of Brookhaven
Credit: City of Brookhaven
The speed limits in all three school zones is 35 mph, and 25 mph during the morning and afternoon rush.
RedSpeed will post warning signs on each end of the school zone, and only warnings will be issued for the first 30 days. Brookhaven did not say when the cameras will be installed.
The devices also have technology built in that automatically reads the license plates of cars passing by, with the data accessible to the police department.
Staff reporter Amanda C. Coyne contributed to this report.
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