Roswell begins using cameras to crack down on school zone speeders

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police is beginning to use cameras to crack down on school zone speeders starting today.

Those driving 10 mph or more in the Vickery Mill Elementary school zone an hour before or after classes will get a warning. But that only lasts 30 days. Starting March 3, speeders will get a $75 fine mailed to them.

The Roswell City Council in August unanimously approved a contract with Illinois-based RedSpeed USA to ticket drivers. The service is free to the cities, but RedSpeed gets 35% of the ticket revenue. The rest is kept by the city and must be used for public safety. Roswell joins about 20 other cities in Georgia, including Gwinnett County’s Duluth and Lilburn.

Cities are doing this all at once because state government passed House Bill 978 in 2018. The bill allowed speed cameras be used to ticket drivers while school zone lights are flashing. Drivers can technically be ticketed by an officer for only going 1 mph over the speed limit, so the cameras are more lenient.

The bill limits fines to $75 for the first offense and then $125 for all subsequent offenses; these are civil violations and will not add points to anyone’s license.

This article was written by Ben Brasch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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