Christmas trees may not see nearly as many presents in Manatee County, Florida this year, after drivers racked up nearly $600,000 worth of school-zone speeding tickets in less than three weeks. Since the county began issuing tickets for speeding in school zones on November 1, its sent out more than 5,700 fines, the Bradenton Herald reports. Will those fines finally get people to slow down, though? Considering the county has been issuing warnings for months, we’re going to go with “probably not.”
Manatee County installed the speeding cameras in school zones, and beginning on the first day of school back in August, started sending out warnings to drivers caught driving more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit but didn’t actually start fining drivers until November 1. The cameras were also only active from 30 minutes before school starts until 30 minutes after. During the warning period, they sent out 10,629 warnings to speeding drivers. Combined with the signs notifying them about the cameras, you would think they’d have gotten the message by now.
And yet, between November 1 and November 18, Manatee County reportedly reviewed all of the alleged violations and issued 5,716 school-zone speeding tickets, with each one costing the driver an even $100:
Officials began fining drivers $100 for going too fast in Bradenton-area school zones on Nov. 1. The RedSpeed cameras are active 30 minutes before the school day starts, throughout the school day and 30 minutes after the school day ends.
The county receives $65 from each ticket, the state receives $23 and the school district receives $12. District officials say their cut of the money will go toward school safety, student transportation and crosswalk guards.
Manatee County officials say RedSpeed installed its cameras at around two dozen schools at no cost to the government. However, the county sends the company $19.80 for each recorded violation.
As for drivers who are upset that they only got three months of warnings before the county started fining them for ignoring school-zone speed limits, Sheriff Rick Wells told the Bradenton Herald, “Because we should all be concerned about the safety of children, we shouldn’t have to remind motorists to slow down, that’s one number. And secondly, if drivers just obey the posted speed limits, they don’t have to worry about receiving a fine.”