Smith County Partners for School Safety Zone Program

TYLER — Smith County is implementing a program to help curb dangerous speeding in school zones, reduce collisions, and enhance the safety of children and pedestrians in the community. According to a news release, the county is partnering with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to launch a school zone safety camera program. “Smith County is focused on public safety and limited enforcement to ensure the safety of the community’s school children,” County Judge Joel Baker said. “I believe it is a more efficient way to enforce laws that are already in place.”

The goal of the speed zone safety program is to reduce speeds and increase safety for children, pedestrians, and cyclists in school zones. This program enhances enforcement abilities while freeing up other law enforcement resources to focus on the mission of promoting traffic safety, according to the news release. “Public safety is the highest priority of Smith County and we believe this speed safety camera program will help make our roadways safer for both residents and visitors of our community. These cameras are another way our County is using technology to improve public safety,” Judge Baker said.

Speeding in school zones is a deadly and costly problem. A national survey found two-thirds of drivers exceed the posted speed limit in school zones during the 30-minute periods before and after classes. School zone speed safety cameras provide a constant enforcement presence that changes driver behavior for improved community road safety. On average, more than 100 children are killed every year while walking to and from school in our nation and about 25,000 are injured. Speeding drivers heighten the danger children face in school zones, according to the news release. Officials say that in a car-pedestrian collision, a child’s chances of survival diminish as the speed of the car increases.

In 2013, there were nearly 3,000 speed violations in Tyler school zones, according to a school zone speed analysis overview conducted by ATS. The number of vehicles that traveled at 15 mph to 20 mph over the speed limit increased by more than 100 percent and more than 85 percent, respectively, from 2012 to 2013. The data overwhelmingly shows that speeding in school zones is a growing problem in Tyler and Smith County. Enforcement measures such as the school zone speed safety camera program will help enforce these limits and keep the children safe while going to and from school, according to officials. According to the Texas Transportation Code, county commissioners have the authority to adopt regulations establishing a system of traffic control devices in restricted traffic zones on county roads or property.

The ATS school zone speed safety cameras use advanced detection technology along with high-resolution cameras to provide a complete evidence package, according to the news release. ATS provides all of the equipment and manages the program at no costs to Smith County taxpayers. Smith County will start the program with five units, which will rotate being placed at various school zones throughout the county. Images of the offending vehicles license plate, along with location, speed, and other necessary information are reviewed by ATS, then forwarded to the Smith County fire marshal for a final review. Ultimately, the county fire marshal will decide whether or not a violation should be issued to the vehicle owner. This program will be 100 percent funded by individuals who speed in school zones. People who are ticketed have 30 days to visit the ATS website to pay the fines or contest the citation.

The civil citations will not go on the driver’s record nor affect car insurance like tickets issued by law enforcement. If a speeder receives an ATS citation and a law enforcement ticket for the same incident, the ATS citation could be waived. A portion of the funds received from citations will be dedicated to public safety initiatives. The program offered by ATS, an Arizona-based company, has been used throughout the United States. In Texas, Kaufman County recently began the program. For more information, visit http://www.atsol.com or contact Smith County Judge Joel Baker.