HAMPTON, Va. — Soon, cameras could help put an end to speeding near Hampton schools. Hampton is the latest city in Hampton Roads looking to add speeding cameras to school zones.
“I was on a call earlier this week with our regional partners...are finding that speeding, in fact, aggressive speeding is at an all-time high in our region,” said Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting.
City officials said complaints from residents about speeding pushed them to find new solutions.
“I have seen some speeding a little when I’m doing my walking down here,” said Hampton resident Tina Swilling.
“People just speed more now than they used to,” said Hampton City Spokesperson Robin McCormick.
Some residents think speeding cameras will make a difference.
“A fine will help deter speeders,” Rodney Hendricks said.
“With the cameras, there’s more security as far as saying ok you know they’re out here," Swilling said. "You know they’re going to catch you. They’re going to see your license plate.”
McCormick said crews did traffic studies to identify what schools are seeing more traffic.
“We’re going to take a look at those and then confer also with school officials to see what complaints they’ve heard and police to kind of monitor where speeding is,” she said.
The hope is to get cameras set up across all public schools which could cost nearly $3.4 million.
“That is the plan, tentatively," McCormick said. "I mean we want to do 12 schools first and see if it works.”
However, nothing is set in stone just yet. McCormick said although the proposal has garnered unanimous support from the city council, attorneys need to draft up language that councilmembers will need to vote on before moving forward.
If the city council votes to approve the cameras, officials hope to get them set up ahead of the upcoming school year. There will be a 30-day warning period before the city starts issuing fines.