Photographic speed controls could guard 206 Miami-Dade schools

Miami-Dade County could install speed detection systems in 206 public and private school zones in unincorporated areas under an ordinance up for a preliminary vote this week.

The measure, sponsored by Vice Chairman Anthony Rodriguez, would piggyback on a state law signed this year that provides that a county may enforce speed limits on roadways maintained as school zones by using speed detection systems.

The county legislation says that “speed violations in school zones in the unincorporated area of the county are rampant, with the Miami-Dade Police Department issuing nearly 2,500 citations for speeding in a school zone in the last year alone.”

The legislation says that while county police have issued those citations, they could have issued many more as while they have stopped one speeding driver, others can speed past with impunity.

The new state law allows counties to avoid that manpower gap by installing a “portable or fixed automated system used to detect a motor vehicle’s speed using radar or LiDAR and to capture a photograph or video” of cars that speed past.

The speed detection system and photos or videos, the state law says, can be used to cite motorists going more than 10 miles over the speed limit in the zone.

The legislation from Mr. Rodriguez would authorize the use of such speed detecting and recording devices but doesn’t detail costs or funding of equipment or labor involved in dealing with 206 separate school zones.

The ordinance explicitly states that the county has met formal requirements of the new state law that traffic data or other evidence for each school zone be studied in advance.

The ordinance says that the county has “considered traffic data or other evidence supporting the installation and operation of each school zone detection system [and] determines that the following school zones where a speed detection system is to be placed or installed constitute a heightened safety risk that warrants additional enforcement measures.”

Following that statement, the legislation merely lists names and addresses of the 206 schools, with no indication of study of any of them.

If the measure passes after this week’s reading, a public hearing and a final commission vote, state law requires that the county post signs wherever photographic or video enforcement of school zone speeds are in effect, listing the hours of enforcement. State law also requires the county to announce the program and “conduct a public awareness campaign” at least 30 days before starting enforcement.

The county would have to annually report the results of all school speed zone traffic systems.