PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — In the span of 10 days, two local crossing guards were hit by cars in school speed zones.
“Speeding is a problem on just about every street we have in the city,” said Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins during Wednesday’s quarterly crime update.
After two incidents that happened outside city limits this month, Jenkins is putting safeguards in place so that preventable accidents don’t happen here.
“These deterrents that we’re putting up, we’re hoping is going to save a life,” Jenkins said.
Starting Oct. 30 through the end of November, anyone who goes more than 10 mph over a school speed limit during school drop-off or pick-up will receive a warning in the mail along with their posted speed. Beginning Dec. 1, anyone who violates the school speed zone will receive a $100 citation.
“Every one of those citations has to be reviewed by a sworn police officer,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the cameras will calibrate every 30 minutes and are highly accurate. The police chief said Chesapeake Public Schools recently unveiled similar cameras and issued 9,000 citations in one week.
“There’s a high probability if you receive one, you were speeding,” Jenkins said.
The city will get 60-70% of each paid citation. The remainder will pay the company that owns the cameras. Jenkins said the goal is to use that money to advance the city’s gunshot detection software.
Click here for answers to FAQs about the school zone photo speed enforcement.