Speed Camera Expansion With 50 More Cameras Eyed In Fairfax County

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Police presented a proposal to ramp up the speed camera program in school zones to add 50 additional speed cameras.

Bob Blakley, assistant police chief at the Fairfax County Police Department, presented the plan to the Board of Supervisors Safety and Security Committee Tuesday. If the phase 1 expansion moves forward, police anticipated 50 more speed cameras could be set up by the end of 2024. Fairfax County is also preparing to launch its school bus arm program in fall 2024 to catch passing a stopped school bus violations. A future phase 2 expansion with 30 speed cameras is proposed in fiscal year 2027.

"The program is effective, it's doing what we believe, which is just reminding the community that there's a school zone, there are some extra signs that talk about speed cameras, and it just reminds us all to go the speed limit, which is our number one goal," Blakley told county supervisors.

The speed camera pilot program launched in early 2023 with nine cameras in school crossing zones across Fairfax County. An Oakton High School camera was added in spring 2024 on Blake Lane, where two high school students were killed in a crash. Speed cameras are currently placed near Chesterbrook Elementary School in McLean, Irving Middle School in Springfield, Key Middle School in Springfield, London Towne Elementary School in Centreville, Sleepy Hollow Elementary School in Falls Church, South County Middle School in Lorton, Terraset Elementary School in Reston, West Springfield High School in West Springfield, and Oakton High School in Vienna.

Localities gained authority to use speed monitoring cameras in school zones and highway work zones under 2020 Virginia legislation. The legislation maintains that speed cameras may record violations only during active school zone times, and recorded violations must be confirmed by a law enforcement officer. Violations caught by a speed monitoring device can result in fines but not driver's license points or insurance impacts. Fines in Fairfax County are $50 for 10 to 14 mph over the speed limit, $75 for 15 to 19 mph over the speed limit and $100 for 20 mph or more over the speed limit. Speed cameras start with a 30-day warning period before issuing citations.

According to the police presentation to the board, 20,312 school zone speeding citations were confirmed between March 10, 2023 and April 12, 2024. Pilot program data showed average vehicle speeds dropped in most speed camera locations, with the exception of Soapstone Drive near Terraset Elementary School in Reston. About 71 percent of violations involved speeds between 35 and 39 mph, while 22 percent were speeds between 40 and 44 mph and 7 percent were 45 mph and higher.

The speed camera program had some kinks that had to be worked out, according to Blakley. One of the issues was the Winko-matic lighting being synchronized properly during summer school, so violations were improperly issued outside active school crossing times. The Virginia Department of Transportation also required adding filters to the camera flash, and a better streamlined process on issuing violations and summonses was addressed with the courts.

The 50 future speed camera locations were chosen in collaboration with Fairfax County Public Schools based on complaints and the schools' needs. Police also looked at whether the school is in a higher speed limit area versus a residential neighborhood that already has a 25 mph speed limit.

"We also wanted to equally distribute the cameras across all the magisterial districts, with the goal of spreading the signage and spreading the program throughout the county, hoping to get more voluntary compliance because people see them as they travel from point A to point B," said Blakley.

Supervisor Jimmy Bierman (D-Dranesville) would like to see speed cameras at every school in his district.

"I was very happy seeing the list of schools that you would come up with for my district because at least two of them people had already asked about, I need them in other schools too, though," said Bierman. "So just keep going, keep going. It's really great...I know that it's always hard to stand up a new program, but nobody should be speeding in a school zone."

Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) pointed to the benefits of the speed cameras appearing on the Waze driving directions tool even outside active times. However, he said the county should prioritize camera locations where there isn't significant traffic during school zone times that could prevent speeding.

"I would spend some time digging into them a little bit, and what specific kinds of complaints we're getting, because we only have so many cameras, so we want to put them where they need to be," said Herrity.

The speed camera program update was not an action item for the Board of Supervisors at the commitee meeting.