DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Outside Beacon Hill Middle School in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, like along hundreds of roadsides across Georgia, the unblinking eye of a camera tickets drivers who speed through a school zone.
Supporters say cameras slow down drivers and provide constant enforcement that understaffed police departments can't equal. But some state lawmakers want to ban them, saying the cameras are more about generating money for local governments and camera companies, and that some use them deceptively.
More than 20 states and the District of Columbia allow automated traffic cameras to issue speeding tickets, but more than 10 other states have outlawed them. However, it would be unusual for a state to reverse its position. New Jersey had a pilot program testing cameras to enforce red lights, but the state pulled the plug in 2014.
Georgia first authorized speed cameras, but only in school zones, in 2018. Its fight took center stage Tuesday, with the state House passing two separate bills, one that would ban the cameras and another that would impose new rules. Republican House Speaker Jon Burns said the unusual step was meant to "see what the Senate appetite is" for action. The Senate itself has advanced a bill to impose new rules out of committee.
Opponents say cameras are about money, not safety
Dale Washburn, a Macon Republican sponsoring House Bill 225 to ban the cameras, argues that the system is beyond reforming.
“There are many abuses and they are reported often," Washburn told House members before they voted 129-37 for his bill. Those include people ticketed who said warning lights weren't flashing and that they were driving at other times than when children were present.
While the tickets in Georgia are civil citations and don't go on a driver's criminal record, the state does block people who don't pay from renewing their vehicle registration. Almost 125,000 unpaid violations were reported in 2024, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue. The cameras generated more than $112 million in revenue in 54 Georgia cities and counties since 2019, WANF-TV found last year. Camera companies typically take a share of the revenue.
“These camera companies are engaged in deceit and trickery,” Washburn told The Associated Press earlier. “Their goal is to write tickets, not to enhance children’s safety."
One issue with abolishing cameras is that companies have become political donors. United Kingdom-based RedSpeed and Tennessee-based Blue Line Solutions contributed around $500,000 to Georgia campaigns in recent years, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan watchdog that tracks campaign contributions.
Others want to reform camera use, not end it
Legislative leaders seem more likely to support two other bills that would keep cameras but more closely regulate them by providing better warning signs and limiting hours.
"So the objective is to alert drivers that they're entering a school zone and get them to slow down and then for them not to be cited unless they are speeding in a school zone during designated hours," said Republican Sen. Max Burns, of Sylvania, who is sponsoring Senate Bill 75.
House Bill 651, which passed the House 164-8 on Tuesday, would also remove the ability to block a vehicle's registration over unpaid fines.
In Decatur, students surge out of Beacon Hill Middle at dismissal. Unlike most places in Georgia, where most students travel in buses or parents' cars, a majority of Decatur's 5,300 students either walk or ride bikes home.
Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett said a Beacon Hill student was struck in a hit-and-run accident and a crossing guard elsewhere was also hit before Decatur activated cameras last fall.
“We really want to protect our most vulnerable residents, our students, and particularly when they are on foot or on a bicycle," Garrett said.
Violations drop but many drivers still speed
Police Chief Scott Richards said a speed study conducted by the company shows speeding has fallen 92%, but plenty of drivers are still flying through the five zones where Decatur is using cameras. They issued 4,500 valid citations in January alone, he said.
“We would not be able to get those reductions if it were not for the photo enforcement in school zones,” Richards said.
Decatur officials tout their efforts as a model, saying the city has abundant signage and only operates cameras for 30 minutes before and after schools begin and dismiss. A vehicle must be traveling 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) per hour over the speed limit to be cited.
Still, Washburn and others say the lucrative fines encourage abuses.
“Profit-based law enforcement cannot be trusted,” John Moore of Milledgeville wrote to Washburn in February. “I hope you can convince your colleagues to vote this menace out of our state for good.”
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