Georgia bill banning school zone traffic cameras garners support

This story was originally published by WABE, the nonprofit NPR-affiliate station covering Atlanta.

Georgia lawmakers filed legislation to ban school zone traffic cameras on Monday, with more than half of state House representatives signing onto the bill due to concerns about operating hours and fines.

House Bill 225 would repeal H.B. 978, passed in 2018, which allows the use of automated speed detection devices in school zones.

H.B. 225 prevents local bodies from entering or continuing contracts with companies that provide such devices and enforcement, meaning that recent contracts for automated speed detection programs in places like Decatur could end prematurely.

The bill would ban such devices altogether, though some have proposed ideas on regulating them.

House Speaker Jon Burns shared concerns during a January press conference that cameras operate at all hours. However, he said lawmakers originally intended for them to work only during schools’ starting and ending times.

“I think we’ll correct the issue that what our legislative intent is, that schools on cameras operate when young people are going to school in the mornings and then when they’re leaving school in the afternoons,” Burns said in a January press conference.

Moreover, Burns said the revenue generated from tickets issued due to school zone driving violations should be redirected.

“We want to make sure that any revenue that’s created by school zone cameras are applied to school safety,” he said.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Republican State Rep. Dale Washburn of Macon, wants to go a step further, saying it is simply time to ban the school zone cameras.

The politician said that in many areas of the state, local governments are using the cameras inappropriately and charging an exorbitant amount in fines from residents in places where students don’t walk to school in the first place.

“If you start trying to do any sort of a fix-it — and there’s some conversation about that — in my mind, that still allows these camera companies to do things that should not be done to our citizens, and I believe the correct thing to do is to ban this,” Washburn said.

Washburn added that he’s still concerned about student safety and recommended other measures, like crossing guards.