Photo speed enforcement could start as early as this fall on Waugh Street in the Dalton High School speed zone and on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Roan School, according to Dalton Police Chief Cliff Cason.
“That would be the best case scenario,” Cason told members of the City Council at their meeting on Monday.
“This is one of those things where there is a lot of legwork that has to go in before it can go live,” he said. “We are not going to be starting tomorrow.”
The council members voted 4-0 to approve a two-year contract with Blue Line Solutions, which provides speed enforcement cameras for cities and counties across the nation, to provide and maintain the enforcement system.
That contract says the city will receive “65% of all paid Notices of Liability” and Blue Line Solutions’ “portion shall be 35% of all paid Notices of Liabilities.”
Council member Steve Farrow noted that the contract does not specify the hours photo enforcement will take place.
“My main concern is that this is only operated when the kids are coming to school and when they are going home from school, not all day,” he said. “And not when school is not in session in the summer and not on weekends.”
Cason said those times will be set at the beginning of the school year.
“It leaves some flexibility for Dalton schools, if they alter the school hours so (the hours of operation) match that,” he said.
He said he will bring that back to the council for approval after the hours are finalized.
He said he did not have enough officers to enforce the school zone speed limits “the way we would like to.”
“This will not run in the summertime,” he said. “It will not run during break periods from school, snow days or if we have some type of school cancellation. It does not run overnight.”
Cason said the speed enforcement will operate not only during the morning drop-off and pick-up hours but during the school day when buses are coming to or leaving the school.
“Just running buses back and forth, why would there be any need to have it during that time?” Farrow said. “I can understand when people are coming to school and leaving school. But buses running back and forth? See, this is what I am worried about.”
Cason said there are “a significant number of vehicles during that time period that are exceeding the speed limit. And there really is not a safe place to do traffic enforcement in those two school zones.” He added that staff and students are leaving throughout the day, especially at Dalton High School.
During a November meeting of the city Finance Committee, which consists of the City Council members, Ryan Moore, regional sales manager for Blue Line Solutions, said that during a five-day period, 16,510 vehicles came through the school zone at Roan School, and 2,316 were doing at least 11 miles over the speed limit.
He said that under state law a vehicle must be doing at least 11 mph over the speed limit for automatic speed enforcement to issue a citation. He said the majority of speeding cars were doing at least 14 mph over the speed limit and 457 were doing at least 20 mph over the speed limit.
On Waugh Street, during that same five-day period, 31,493 vehicles passed through the Dalton High School school zone. Of those, 5,463 were doing at least 11 mph above the speed limit and 280 were doing at least 20 mph over the speed limit.
Cason said no citations will be issued unless they are reviewed and approved by the police department. He said there will be warnings posted on the streets before drivers get to the photo enforcement zones.
“You’ll get multiple warnings before you ever get into the zone where enforcement will take place,” he said.
He said that before the system goes live the city and Dalton Public Schools will “push out public information” about the enforcement system “so everybody would be aware.” He said for the first 30 days violators will receive warnings rather than citations.
City Administrator Andrew Parker said the Georgia Department of Transportation will have to sign off on the photo enforcement system.
“That will take a lot of lead time,” Parker said.
Mayor Annalee Harlan Sams said the council members could approve the agreement Monday and set the times later this year after they learn what the school hours will be.