DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Outside Beacon Hill Middle School in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, like along hundreds of roadsides across Georgia, the unblinking eye of a camera tickets drivers who speed through a school zone.
Supporters say cameras slow down drivers and provide constant enforcement that understaffed police departments can't equal. But some state lawmakers want to ban them, saying the cameras are more about generating money for local governments and camera companies, and that some use them deceptively.
More than 20 states and the District of Columbia allow automated traffic cameras to issue speeding tickets, but more than 10 other states have outlawed them. However, it would be unusual for a state to reverse its position. New Jersey had a pilot program testing cameras to enforce red lights, but pulled the plug in 2014.
Georgia's fight will come to a head soon in its General Assembly, with three separate bills advancing out of committees. The state first authorized speed cameras, but only in school zones, in 2018.
More than 100 representatives in Georgia's 180-member House signed on to House Bill 225, which would ban the cameras. Dale Washburn, the Macon Republican sponsoring that measure, provided a stack of emails from outraged people ticketed statewide who said lights weren't flashing, they didn't even know they were in a school zone, or the cameras were otherwise unfair.
While the tickets in Georgia are civil citations and don't go on a driver’s criminal record, the state does block people who don’t pay from renewing their vehicle registration. Almost 125,000 unpaid violations were reported in 2024, the Georgia Department of Revenue said. The cameras generated more than $112 million in revenue in 54 Georgia cities and counties since 2019, WANF-TV found last year. Camera companies typically take a share of the revenue.
“These camera companies are engaged in deceit and trickery,†Washburn said. “Their goal is to write tickets, not to enhance children’s safety."
One issue with abolishing cameras is that companies have become big political donors. Two big vendors, United Kingdom-based RedSpeed and Tennessee-based Blue Line Solutions, contributed around $500,000 to Georgia campaigns in recent years, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan watchdog that tracks money in politics.
Legislative leaders seem more likely to support two other bills that would keep cameras, but more closely regulate them by providing better warning signs and limiting the hours of usage.
“So the objective is to alert drivers that they're entering a school zone and get them to slow down and then for them not to be cited unless they are speeding in a school zone during designated hours,†said Republican Sen. Max Burns of Sylvania, who is sponsoring Senate Bill 75.
An alternate House bill that is similar to Burns' would require half the money raised go to school safety.
In Decatur, students surge out of Beacon Hill Middle at dismissal and walk along College Avenue, a two-lane street that's also a state highway. Unlike most places in Georgia, where most students travel home in buses or their parents' cars, a majority of Decatur's 5,300 students either walk or ride bikes home.
Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett said a student at Beacon Hill was struck in a hit-and-run accident and a crossing guard elsewhere was also hit before Decatur activated its cameras last fall.
“We really want to protect our most vulnerable residents, our students, and particularly when they are on foot or on a bicycle," Garrett said.
Police Chief Scott Richards said according to a speed study conducted by the company, speeding has fallen 92%. But there are still plenty of drivers flying through the five zones where Decatur is using cameras. They issued 4,500 valid citations in January alone, he said.
“We would not be able to get those reductions if it were not for the photo enforcement in school zones,†Richards said.
Decatur officials tout their efforts as a model, saying the city has abundant signage and only operates the cameras for a 30 minutes before and after schools begin in the morning and dismiss in the afternoon. A vehicle must be traveling 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) per hour over the speed limit to be cited.
Still, Washburn and others say the amount of money involved encourages overuse and bad behavior.
“Profit-based law enforcement cannot be trusted,†John Moore of Milledgeville wrote to Washburn in February. “I hope you can convince your colleagues to vote this menace out of our state for good."
