BOCA RATON — School zones within the Boca Raton district are about to become much stricter after the City Council unanimously approved a pilot program with RedSpeed Florida, LLC, to install speed-detection cameras.
If the cameras detect a vehicle driving 10 miles or more over the speed limit, Boca Police will issue a $100 fine.
The council’s decision comes two years after Florida lawmakers passed House Bill 657, which allows counties and municipalities to establish speed cameras in school zones to more strongly enforce speed limits.
Not all of the details have been worked out, Public Works and Engineering Director Zachary Bihr told the council, but he said they hope to have cameras in place in the next few months.
Boca Raton chooses RedSpeed Florida for speed cameras in school zones
The city chose to authorize a contract with RedSpeed Florida, LLC, for the camera system, a company with more than 400 cameras already installed throughout the state.
Greg Parks, the senior vice president of RedSpeed USA, said school zones with the camera system installed see an approximate 95% reduction in speeding and a less than 10% repeat violator rate.
“That’s probably the most meaningful statistic. If I get a citation, I don’t violate again,” Parks said. “The program is working, all at no taxpayer expense.”
Parks said RedSpeed’s program in Aventura was running within two weeks of approval, and it is also already live in Deerfield Beach. However, they have run into an issue with Plantation, as the municipality has a combination of city and Broward County roads.
Obtaining permits for county roads is a much more exhaustive process, he said. This was the biggest issue voiced by council members, considering many school zones in Boca Raton are located on county roads, including Military Trail.
“I do anticipate there will be an issue there,” Bihr said. “Dealing with the county, getting a permit, is going to be a challenge. Staff is going to leverage all of our expertise and our relationship with the county to manage that and try and find viable locations.”
The proposal was initially met with some hesitancy from Councilwoman Yvette Drucker. She said she wasn’t sure if she could move forward with something that is not fully tested.
“I, truthfully, have trepidation because I don’t know that we’ve done, in my opinion, the due diligence as needed for such a project,” said Drucker. “And for me, the most important thing is public safety … there’s so many missing pieces here that makes me uncomfortable.”
When it came time for a final discussion, Councilman Mark Wigder expressed urgency for the resolution to pass as soon as possible.
“I think we should move forward with this. I think we should’ve moved forward with this five months ago. We’re talking about a pilot program here that’s gonna help protect children. What are we talking about?” Wigder said. “Let’s stop talking. Let’s get it done.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Speed cameras in school zones coming to Boca Raton, Florida