Richmond school speed cameras are issuing 76 tickets a day, and more cameras are in the works
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One of two speed cameras by Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts in South Richmond. Photo: Karri Peifer/Axios
The city has approved permits for speed enforcement cameras in three more Richmond school zones, and applications are pending for five more after that.
Why it matters: The cameras, and the $50-$100 fines that will come with them, are meant to deter speeding around schools.
The latest: The three newly approved speed cameras will soon go up around Swansboro Elementary and Thomas C. Boushall Middle in South Richmond and Martin Luther King Middle in the East End.
Permit applications are pending for five more schools:
- Westover Hills Elementary, River City Middle and Huguenot High in South Richmond.
- Mary Munford Elementary in the Near West End.
- Frances W. McClenney Elementary in Northside.
The big picture: State lawmakers approved the use of speed cameras around highway work zones and school crossing zones in 2020, and Richmond announced plans to add some last year.
- The first four cameras around two Richmond schools — Linwood Holton Elementary School in Northside and Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts in South Richmond — went live this spring.
- In their first month, the cameras were churning out an average of 176 speeding tickets a day, RPD said in April.
Those numbers have improved significantly since then, down to an average of 76 per day for the first half of the year, RPD said at their mid-year crime briefing last week.
Yes, but: They're still too high for what police, or anyone, wants to see in a school zone, especially when children are entering and exiting the building.
By the numbers: RPD has issued a total of 5,464 speeding citations since the camera went live in March, with significantly more speeding happening in Northside.
- Patrick Henry — 1,707 citations.
- Linwood Holton — 3,757 citations, plus an additional 872 during a 30-day period of summer school.
How it works: The cameras are posted up to catch traffic traveling in both directions. They're only live during the school year for two hours before and after school.
- Signs alert drivers that speed enforcement is taking place.
- Fines — $50 for the first offense and $100 thereafter — are issued for drivers going 11 miles per hour or more over the posted limit.
What's next: The city hopes to eventually expand to 26 cameras in 13 school zones.