BRADENTON, Fla. — A safety measure set up to protect children in school zones has generated thousands of dollars in fines across Manatee County.
County officials hope the steep penalties will remind drivers to slow down in school zones, especially when the lights are flashing.
Launched in August, county officials said the cameras have issued nearly $600,000 in fines since tickets started going out on Nov. 1.
The camera system snaps photos of drivers going more than 10 miles over the posted speed limit in school zones. It then sends them their ticket by mail including details about how fast they were going.
Despite a much-publicized 30-day grace period given earlier in the fall to notify the commuting public of the speed detection cameras, Manatee County officials say they still issued nearly 9,000 tickets to violation drivers within a three-week period.
"Obviously, there are a lot of people getting the message that it is important to slow down and that's really what this entire project is all about," Bill Logan, Manatee County spokesperson, said.
Officials, however, said they are still alarmed that so many people continue to blow through school zones at a high rate of speed when amber lights are flashing.
"Which shows that this message still needs to get out. If there's over 8,000 people who have been given these notices of violation there's over 10,000 people that have gotten violation warnings," Logan said.
Part of the $100 fine goes to the county and the state's general revenue fund as well as the school district's school safety and student-related services.
RedSpeed USA which installs and runs similar camera systems in many other states does so at no cost to the county. However, according to an agreement with the county, approximately $20 from the fines held back by the company for operational costs has netted around $113,000 from the program so far.
"Everyone that I come in contact with that is not on the law enforcement side is surprised to see that there's this many numbers of violators going through the school," David De La Espriella, VP of RedSpeed USA, said.
De La Espriella said the overall goal of the technology and the program is to remind drivers to be alert and make school zones safer.
"My hope is that it does reduce those speeds and brings down the unsafe conditions that our school zone is currently in now," he said.
"The main thing is just to get people to slow down to make sure they're observing the speed limit, especially in the school zones it's so important for our children," Logan said.
"If it hits you in the pocketbook, people are going to be not pleased about it, but that will help them remember the next time. The bottom line is that we're really hoping folks get the message and keep their speeds down to stay safe," he said.
The cameras are active 30 minutes before and after school the school day starts, while school is letting out and 30 minutes afterwards.