ATLANTA — There’s an effort at the State Capitol to get rid of school zone cameras. Lawmakers say they’re hearing complaints from drivers caught by those cameras.
Channel 2’s Richard Elliot learned there are two competing bills over the issue.
One likes the cameras and wants to make sure the signage around them is state-wide. But another one dislikes them so much he just wants to get rid of them altogether.
Traffic hums by the school zone safety cameras on Bakers Ferry Road not far from Miles Elementary. Elliot found plenty of signage there warning drivers that they’re inside a zone.
The problem is, there is no law governing what the signs are supposed to look like. So signs here in Atlanta may look very different than in Macon or Savannah.
“I’ve had that ticket because I was not aware I was in a school zone,” state Sen. Max Burns said.
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Burns got that ticket in his home district in Sylvania for speeding through a school zone, though he swears he didn’t see any signage along a four-lane divided highway.
He says the school zone cameras are very important to student safety, he just wants to make sure drivers realize they’re in one.
“If we make sure that we inform the public, the motorist that they’re approaching a school zone, give them ample time to respond appropriately, I think we can adjust to that challenge,” Burns said.
But some House lawmakers don’t think that bill goes nearly far enough. They dropped a bill to do away with school zone cameras altogether after hearing from dozens of people around the state who felt they’d been ticketed unfairly.
“I would rather see them go away entirely,” said state Rep. Dewey McLain.
McClain, from Gwinnett County, thinks some counties are just using the fines collected from them to fund their budget and not to encourage safety.
“That’s not the reason we did this. We did this for safety not for you to have some additional funds,” McClain said.
That first school cameras bill got a hearing on Monday.
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