Speed cameras in a few school zones in Decatur will begin operating in October, beginning with a warning period. Citations will start to be issued in November.
The Decatur City Commission approved a contract with Blueline Solutions in 2023 to create a school zone speed enforcement program to install traffic cameras in some of the city’s school zones.
“The goal of the program is to increase roadway safety in five school zones within the city of Decatur by reducing the number of speeding vehicles,” Police Chief Scott Richards previously said. “A reduction in speeding vehicles reduces the likelihood of serious crashes and injuries, especially for children who are walking, biking and riding to and from school each day.”
Richards said that in school zones, speeding means driving 11 miles per hour or more over the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour.
The cameras were installed last year, but the process to get them up and running was delayed as the Georgia Department of Transportation faced challenges inputting the list of roadways into its computer system.
The Decatur City Commission approved the final list of roadways during its regular meeting on Sept. 16, which was the last administrative item to finish in order to turn the cameras on. In order to use the cameras, the roadways had to be designated as having an automated traffic enforcement safety device.
No changes have been made to the boundaries of the school zones, although city staff indicated that some changes may be coming soon.
“We’ve got four or five locations that we’re looking to make some slight modifications, but this was to just mirror what we have now,” City Manager Andrea Arnold said. “The change here is just allowing us to have the cameras in place for the automated enforcement.”
Here are the school zones that will have automated speed enforcement:
– Scott Boulevard, roughly between Garden Lane and Westchester Drive, near Westchester Elementary School
– West College Avenue, from Mead Road to South McDonough Street, near Beacon Hill Middle and Oakhurst Elementary schools
– Clairemont Avenue, roughly between Erie Avenue and Wilton Drive, near Clairemont Elementary School
– Church Street, from Geneva Street to Willow Lane, also for Clairemont Elementary
– South Candler Street, from Green Street to East Dougherty Street, near Winnona Park Elementary School
The cameras will enforce the speed limits one hour before school starts and one hour after school is dismissed.
Richards said, on Monday night, that the police department and Blueline Solutions did a survey of the schools zones to determine where to place the cameras.
“We talked about [these locations] as far as looking at these specifically based on where we have received complaints of speeding, a high volume of traffic speeding in those particular school zones and also officer observation while sitting in the school zone and issuing citations,” Richards said.
In the coming weeks, the city plans to distributed public service announcements in print and online from Sept. 30 to Oct. 13 to let residents know about the speed cameras. There will be a 30-day warning period from Oct. 14 to Nov. 12. During this period, only warnings will be issued to drivers. Citations will be issued beginning on Nov. 13 and would be delivered by mail.
Any potential traffic violations caught by the cameras would be reviewed by the Blueline Solutions staff to verify the vehicle, license plate number and that there was a violation. It’s then sent to the Decatur Police Department to be reviewed by an officer, Richards said. If the citation is approved, it’s sent back to Blueline to be processed and mailed.
