Camera in gray box in Norcross.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 18, 2020 | You may get speeding tickets in some places in Gwinnett with no policeman around. Three Gwinnett cities now have “speed box cameras” in school zones that will issue speeding citations around schools in Duluth, Norcross and Lilburn. The Gwinnett County Police Department is also considering a contract for the speed cameras for use around public schools. Snellville is expected to erect the speed-checking units soon.
You may have noticed the new box-like structures along roadways near schools. The boxes are really cameras with technology to catch vehicles speeding near school districts. Citations are issued if the vehicle is going at least 11 miles per hour over the posted school district speed.
The cameras come as a result of House Bill 218 (2018), allowing the use of speed cameras in school zones. The cameras are installed at no cost to the local government by RedSpeed USA, of Lombard, Ill., an American firm with ties to an English company. RedSpeed gets 35 percent of the revenue from the speeding citations, while the balance of the funds goes to the cities and are earmarked by the bill for public safety improvements. Over 100 municipalities in five states have installed their cameras.
In the brief period that the cameras were operational in Duluth, that city generated $23,091.25 from RedSpeed last year in speeding fines. The cameras are installed around five schools in Duluth.
Norcross Police Chief Bill Grogan says that the cameras were installed in Norcross during the first quarter this year, just prior to the school shut down because of COVID-19. “No tickets have been issued yet since schools are doing digital learning. Cameras are only active when school is in session. When schools are back in session, we will start with a warning period and begin issuing citations after that.”
Chief Bruce Headley of Lilburn realized that there were speeding problems, often around schools, plus on other roads. An independent study showed that “We had 1,400 ‘super speeders’ going more than 15 miles per hour above the speed limit. But time we got the program going, because of the coronavirus, there was no school, so we haven’t found much revenue yet. We’ll see once school starts again.”
Redspeed also makes speed vans, pole-mounted red light cameras, and school bus stop photo enforcement systems.
If you get a citation from RedSpeed, you have the option to pay your fine online. Tickets given by police officers also typically come with points against a driver’s license, while the camera tickets do not.
Greg Park of Kansas City represents RedSpeed in Georgia, and says that the company has 41 customers in Georgia, with an office in Roswell. “We can show that the installation of these cameras really slows speeders. With school re-opening, we’ll soon be back up and running”
One of the benefits of cities using the speed cameras is that they can monitor the speed limits on roadways (around schools) so that police officers can be assigned other duties. “And all this,” Park says, “without any cost to the cities.” When citations are issued, they have been verified twice by RedSpeed employees before the citations go out from the local government. If a person getting the citation wants to contest it, they must appear in the municipality court.
It’s all done as a safety improvement around schools, and from one hour before the school is open, and until one hour past the school closing.
Look for more of these school zone cameras throughout Georgia in coming years.
A simple way to ensure your ballot gets counted in November
All the hullabaloo of whether ballots will be counted in the November election because of postal delays, is mere smokescreen causing confusion.
There’s a simple way if you want to vote by absentee ballot to make sure your vote is counted. Here’s what you do: once you fill out your absentee ballot, simply TAKE it to either the Gwinnett Elections Office in Lawrenceville, or during the Early Voting Time, drop it in one of the special ballot collection boxes at these locations. That way you’ll sidestep wondering if the Post Office is delivering your vote, for you will have delivered it yourself.
You can also drop off absentee ballots on election day, but only at the Elections Office before 7 p.m. You may apply now for an absentee ballot at this web page.
You see, it’s that simple. Don’t let all the talk about the funding of the post office confuse you.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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