MONTGOMERY CO., Va. –
Leaders in Montgomery County are cracking down on people speeding through school zones.
“The danger involved with speeding in the school zones was too much for us to accept,” said Hank Partin, Montgomery County Sheriff.
If you are driving by Prices Fork Elementary School or the Auburn schools in Riner, you may have noticed signs reading speed photo enforced.
“We knew by the number of summonses we were issuing, that we weren’t catching everyone that we needed to catch,” said Partin
As a way to stop folks from speeding through school zones when officers can’t be there, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has installed speed enforcement cameras in their problem school zones
“It’s a huge issue in every school zone we’ve deployed this system in,” said Partin. “In two weeks, we had over 900 violations.”
He said it’s simple, if the lights are flashing, the cameras are on, and folks going ten miles an hour or more over the speed limit will receive a civil fine of $100.
Leaders with Montgomery County Public Schools said with the recent installation of the cameras they are all for keeping students and staff as safe as possible.
“We want to keep everyone safe, so if there is something we can do to help that, we are going to do it and we are going to pursue it,” said Andrew Webb with Montgomery County Public Schools.
For Sheriff Partin he said while this is still in the early stages, he thinks they are already seeing folks get the memo and are slowing down.
“We ‘have enough data yet, but I know the reduction is tremendous,” Partin said.
He said during this first month they are giving out warnings, but after that, the 100$ fine will start.