Georgia Senate subcommittee hears testimony on school‑zone speed cameras, due process and contract terms

A Georgia Senate subcommittee heard testimony from municipal officials, police chiefs and private vendors on automated speed enforcement in school zones, focusing on program operations, public‑education steps, vendor contracts and citizens’ due process.

The discussion matters because the technology is being used by cities across Georgia as a force multiplier for traffic safety, but senators and witnesses disagreed on guardrails such as operating hours, signage, who reviews citations and how citation revenue is spent.

Mayor Patty Garrett, mayor of the City of Decatur, described why her city deployed school‑zone cameras. “Our community safety is really our top priority in using these cameras,” Garrett said, and she told the panel Decatur is a compact city of roughly 25,000 people and has prioritized walkability and Safe Routes to School programs. Decatur’s police chief, Scott Richards, said the city placed cameras at five school‑zone locations after a study showed high rates of speeding and that the cameras and public education together produced substantial reductions in speeding during the pilot and early enforcement phases.

Chief Richards said Decatur’s program timeline included a five‑day baseline speed study, a public‑information phase starting Sept. 30, 2024, a 30‑day warning period beginning Oct. 14 and live enforcement beginning Nov. 13, 2024. He told senators the initial five‑day study recorded 22,443 speeding events in the five school zones; that fell to 7,491 during the public‑information phase (a 66.6% reduction), decreased a further 2,284 during the 30‑day…