VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Beach has joined the growing list of localities across Hampton Roads and Virginia to implement speed cameras in school zones after City Council last Tuesday approved the measure.
York County, Hampton, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk and Portsmouth all have some type of school zone speed camera program. If a driver gets caught speeding in a school zone that has these cameras in any of these areas, they could get a $100 ticket in the mail.
The cameras are in place to help catch drivers who are going too fast — at least 10 mph over the speed limit or greater. Virginia Beach already had stoplight enforcement cameras installed at 11 intersections since 2009.
Council’s approval expands the city’s current PhotoSafe program to include speed enforcement with school zones. City Manager Patrick Duhaney would to seek further direction from council before pursuing photo speed enforcement in work zones.
Currently, Virginia Beach Police “routinely” uses motorcycle offices to enforce speed limits in school zones, Nelms said, and the new program would allow the police department “to potentially redeploy those to address other traffic-related concerns or even in other school zones.”
Any revenue generated from the school zone enforcement program, including citations, is to be directed to address council’s priority for neighborhood traffic calming and safety on city roads, according to the approved ordinance.
Nelms said annual revenue from the current stoplight enforcement program is about $1.8 million, which supports its cost and general police operations, while it spends about $1.01 million on that program.
The new contract is expected to nearly double the cost of the new stoplight and school speed zone enforcement program, he said, to $1.8 million, but it would remain revenue neutral. He said that without the school speed zone enforcement, there “may not be” additional money to go toward traffic calming or pedestrian safety initiatives generated from the program.
However, Nelms said if driver behaviors “are appropriately modified,” the program could requite a supplement “at some point” from the city’s general fund. He said the speed enforcement cameras would increase the cost of the contract by $2,300 to $3,900 per camera, per month.
Nelms told council that, since 2016, total crashes at nine of the 11 monitored intersections have gone down by an average of 37%, and in some intersections, such as Virginia Beach Boulevard and Great Neck Road, crashes have gone down by 70%. At Virginia Beach Boulevard and Independence Boulevard, crashes have decreased by 60%.
Virginia Beach resident Tim Payne, who lives across the street from a high school, believes the cameras will help immensely.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Payne said. “I think it would help deter a lot of the excessive speeding we have down here on West Neck Road.”
However, not everyone is on board with the idea of speed cameras.
“I don’t want people speeding through school zones, but the speed cameras aren’t slowing people down,” said local attorney Tim Anderson. “They’re just penalizing them down the road for something they did a month ago.”
Anderson spoke out against the cameras coming to Virginia Beach.
He’s also filed lawsuits against other Hampton Roads cities having them.
“The fundamental problem is we’re bringing in vendors into Virginia that are not complying with the Virginia code,” Anderson said. “It’s a model that purely maximizes profit for the localities.”
A spokesperson for the Chesapeake Police Department told 10 On Your Side that their department has 10 cameras and has issued more than 42,000 citations and generated more than $3 million through its program in 2024.
Suffolk, which also has cameras in safety and work zones along with school zones, generated more than $5 million from September to December 2023.
Nelms provided revenue estimates for speed enforcement camera revenue in other localities:
- Chesapeake — 11 cameras at 10 school zone sites, $6.6 million estimated revenue for fiscal year 2024
- Hampton — 12 cameras and 12 school zone sites, which went into effect last Oct. 15
- Norfolk — 19 cameras at 10 school zone sites, $4.2 million estimated revenue for fiscal year 2025
- Suffolk — 12 cameras at 11 school and work zone sites, with $12.5 million estimated revenue in fiscal year 2024
- York County — 6 cameras at 6 school sone sites, with $1.7 million estimated revenue in fiscal year 2025 (effective Sept. 26, 2024)
“It’s a huge money generator, and currently under Virginia law, that money just goes into the general fund,” Anderson said. “So Suffolk can use that money for anything that it wants. So can Chesapeake.”
Anderson believes there are more effective ways to stop drivers from speeding in school zones.
“There’s nothing that slows people down more than a police officer on the side of the road,” Anderson said. “Have flashing warning signs that alert drivers that they are speeding and they’re about to get a ticket. Slow them down, [use] speed bumps.”
