Traffic enforcement cameras and radar will be installed at three Gilmer County school locations in the coming months.
Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson shared details of the plan at July’s board of education work session. The three spots of concern include Hwy. 282 that runs past the Mountain View Elementary entrance, Clear Creek Road en route to Clear Creek Middle and Yukon Road alongside the Clear Creek Elementary campus.
“It really doesn’t affect the operation of the schools. It is an enforcement issue, and I’m talking about speeds in school zones around the county,” Nicholson said. “This is not my cup of tea. Traffic enforcement has never been something I jump up and down for joy over. But we do have some issues at three of our schools.
“Our goal is not to write a bunch of tickets or have a bunch of tickets written. The goal is prevent people and get the word out that, “Hey, the sheriff’s office has put traffic cameras and radar out in these school zones.’ I’ve met with the company and we’re going to go with that.”
Nicholson likened the equipment to what can be found in metro Atlanta’s densely populated areas.
“It’s like the red light cameras in some of the larger cities,” he said. “You run a red light down in Brookhaven, Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Marietta, Kennesaw, you get a ticket in the mail. That’s kind of the scenarios this would be.”
The city of Snellville installed traffic cameras in February, according to a May 4 Fox 5 report and dolled out 30,000 tickets while an additional 31,000 tickets were dismissed because of false triggers.
Nicholson noted that camera footage will likely be reviewed by each school’s on-site resource officer to ensure violations are legitimate. The company who installs the cameras and radar will then send tickets by mail, which are considered a civil violation.
“It’s not a traffic ticket. If they don’t pay the fine they don’t go to jail,” Nicholson said. “But it will end up going to court. There are a lot of logistics and things like that that I’m not 100 percent clear on, and we’re having to work through that.”
Nicholson noted that cameras and radar at the aforementioned locations will not be in place when school starts Thursday. He anticipates instillation taking place next month or in October. Cameras will be in operation “during school times” such as “one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon,” which is when the sheriff’s office receives the most complainants from residents concerned about speeders.
“The posted speed limit on the road reduces by 10 miles per hour during those school times,” Nicholson said. “What we intend to do is heavily warn people via Facebook and our local media outlets.
“What we anticipate is that a lot of the infractions won’t be people going to work. We’re anticipating a lot of the infractions will be people who are dropping their kids off for school and running late like I always did for about six years.”
Nicholson said the goal of the cameras is safety. He noted cameras and radar will be installed on poles while the placement of signage “is the county’s responsibility to have that properly and legally marked.”
“We want to warn and warn and warn before these cameras even go live,” Nicholson said. “It’s for the safely of the kids and everyone involved in it.”