NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Drivers who speed through a school zone in Norfolk around school hours will soon get a $100 ticket.
The city has installed 19 cameras around 10 different school locations: near Bayview, Larchmont, Little Creek, Norview and Richard Bowling elementary schools; Ruffner Academy and Southside STEM Academy; and Booker T. Washington, Granby and Norview high schools.
The cameras will be activated 30 minutes before and after school starts, and 30 minutes before and after dismissal.
When our news team went to see the cameras on the day they were powered on (March 4), we already saw them take pictures of more than a dozen cars. People dropping off students at Granby High School think these cameras were a good call.
“Absolutely, absolutely, people don’t obey the speed limit most of the time,” one woman said. “So I think it’s a very good idea.”
While speeding cameras are all too familiar to some who live in the surrounding cities, these are a first for Norfolk. City leaders are still hashing out how the money made from fines will be spent.
City transportation department staff hope the money helps pay for part-time workers who review the footage, and for the cameras themselves. More than anything, they hope these cameras make the roads safer for students.
“Children and elderly, in particular, are the most vulnerable of our pedestrians,” said Norfolk Department of Transportation Director John Stevenson. “A crash involving either one can be much more severe than if it were an adult.”
Stevenson said Norfolk has three red light cameras at some of the busiest intersections in the city. He told 10 On Your Side they will not consider more school zone cameras until the next school year wraps up.
“The school zone speed photo enforcement program’s goal is to increase driver compliance in the reduced speed zones while improving the safety of students at nearby schools,” the city said in a press release. It noted that the cameras have been found to reduce roadway fatalities and injuries by up to 47%.
“It totally is about [safety],” said Councilwoman Courtney Doyle. “It’s not about getting $100 a ticket. It’s about making sure people feel safe crossing and these children know that they are going to be safe crossing.”
The city said signs have also been added at least 100 feet before the cameras, and there will be a 60-day warning period after the cameras are activated March 4. Once the citations take effect May 3, a ticket will be issued within two business days for violations.
Similar cameras are already in use elsewhere in Hampton Roads in school zones and work zone/construction areas, including in Portsmouth, Suffolk and Chesapeake.
Portsmouth’s program started in January and resulted in more than 2,700 citations in the first 23 days. Meanwhile Suffolk made more than $5.2 million from speed cameras from September to December 2023, 10 On Your Side reported.
Currently, under Virginia law the cameras are only allowed in school zones and work/construction areas. A bill from Virginia Del Michael Jones (D-Chesterfield) that would have allowed municipalities to put the cameras wherever they deem them necessary failed to make it out of committee this legislative session.
You can read more about Norfolk’s school zone cameras here.
