Fight to ban school zone speed cameras begins in Georgia House
ATLANTA - A state lawmaker just declared war on school zone speed cameras.
New bill against speed cameras in school zones
What we know:
State Rep. Dale Washburn (R-Macon) filed a bill Monday with the Clerk of the House of Representatives that would outlaw the cameras in Georgia, overturning a 2018 state law that allowed cities and counties to use automated cameras, instead of police officers, to cite speeders near schools.
Washburn told the FOX 5 I-Team in an interview last year that he’d be dropping the bill, picking up where now-retired state Rep. Clay Pirkle left off last year. Pirkle’s bill, which also would have banned the cameras, never moved past the Rules Committee.
Washburn, however, has more than half of the House behind him this time, with 100 co-signers.
You can read the full text of the bill here.
What they're saying:
Over the past seven years, camera systems have popped up along roadways outside schools all over the state, generating millions of dollars for local governments.
RELATED: Backlash growing against school zone speed cameras in Georgia
"This is about revenue by citation. It is taxation by citation, and it is wrong," Washburn said. "Local governments are raking in huge amounts of money across the state of Georgia, and our citizens are being victimized by it."
Attempts to reform how these cameras operate also failed at the Capitol last year. Washburn said he's expecting another fight this year.
"The fight is going to be huge," he told the I-Team. "There are a number of lobbyists here that have been hired by these camera companies. They had some lobbyists already. They’ve hired more."
The other side:
Meanwhile, Ashley Rose-Toomer, the executive director of the nonprofit Give School Kids a Brake, said lawmakers who want to ban the cameras are listening to the wrong people: speeders.
"Folks that go eleven miles over the posted speed limit, folks that are breaking the law, quite significantly … Why are they considered victims? Why is their needs being put above that of parents who are walking their kids to school?" she asked.
Rose-Toomer also argued that it wouldn't be cost-effective to place an officer at every school zone every day.
Camera speeding tickets in Georgia
Dig deeper:
Last year, a series of FOX 5 I-Team investigations uncovered thousands of invalid speeding tickets automatically issued across the metro area.
PREVIOUS I-TEAM REPORTS:
- I-Team finds more school zone cameras ticketed drivers unfairly, this time in east Atlanta
- More speed camera trouble: FOX 5 I-Team investigation finds another 6K erroneous tickets
The FOX 5 I-Team found misalignments between camera ticketing times, and the on/off times of the flashing school zone lights, misled drivers into exceeding the speed limit. Those findings prompted over a half million dollars in reimbursements for drivers ticketed in Jonesboro, Riverdale and Atlanta.
Even when the systems were working as they should, complaints poured in to lawmakers about confusing signage and being ticketed even in the middle of school days when school lights weren't blinking.
What's next:
A bill usually has five or six co-signers. Washburn said his legislation has already received 100.
It takes 91 votes to pass a bill in the House.
The Source: The FOX 5 I-Team has been reporting on controversies surrounding school zone speed cameras for more than a year, using data and field research to determine that cameras in Jonesboro, Riverdale and Atlanta were issuing tickets unfairly. For this story, I-Team reporter Johnny Edwards spoke with state Rep. Dale Washburn just as he left the House clerk’s office, where he filed a bill to outlaw school zone camera systems in Georgia.