- Florida school zone cameras can ticket drivers even when flashing beacons aren’t on.
- Hillsborough County drivers have contested 46 tickets this year; none were dismissed.
- RedSpeed cameras statewide have generated nearly $32 million in less than a year.
Speeding in a school zone when there are kids around is an extremely bad idea, no matter what. Speed limits around schools are meant to keep kids safe, but in some cases, school zones are just turning into cash grabs. That’s what several residents in Florida say, and the details seem to support their frustration.
The controversy starts with signs that declare “20 mph when flashing.” Drivers are getting tickets from speed cameras even when that sign isn’t flashing. For example, Joe Weaver says he received a ticket for going 38 mph in what he believed was a 40 mph zone since the sign wasn’t flashing. It turns out, the sign in question can’t flash because it doesn’t have lighting around it to begin with.
Most would think that Weaver has an open and shut case, then, and that his ticket would get dismissed. Sadly, that’s not the case, as Florida law that allows for the use of speed cameras in school zones doesn’t require signs to actually flash for the lower speed limit to be in effect and enforced. That’s right, the sign can indicate one thing while a driver gets ticketed for the opposite. “I got a raw deal,” Weaver told WPTV…