Cities and Cobb Schools at odds over speed cameras

Jul. 7—After more than a year, some city leaders say efforts to install speed cameras in certain school zones within their cities are being held in limbo by the Cobb School District.

Meanwhile, Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale says the district has made efforts to address speeding concerns in certain areas and argues that speed cameras aren't the best solution.

The history

In early 2020, the Smyrna City Council approved the installation of cameras in school zones in front of three schools in city limits — on Spring Road by Argyle Elementary School; Concord Road by the then-K-2 campus of King Springs Elementary School on Brown Road; and Atlanta Road by Campbell Middle School.

The cameras would be able to read license plates, and speeders would receive fines of $75 for the first offense and $125 for subsequent offenses, according to city and police officials. And the cameras would only be active for about an hour and a half at the start and end of each school day.

Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton told the MDJ in late January last year that the cameras, which would trigger a ticket when vehicles traveled more than 10 mph above the posted speed limit, could be installed in the next month.

But Norton still needed the signature of Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to finalize the installation of the cameras. Eighteen months later, Norton is still trying to get that signature, and now, so is Austell Mayor Ollie Clemons.

Applications for installation in each school zone would have to be approved by the state after sign-offs from the school district, but Norton said the Georgia Department of Transportation has signaled its acceptance of the proposals.

Mayors wait for signature

After months of negotiations and suggestions to try to get Ragsdale on board with the speed cameras in school zones, Norton said he and others still wanted to have the cameras installed by August 2021. So he said they tried to get a bill passed in the General Assembly's last legislative session that would have removed the need for school district superintendent signatures to install speed cameras in school zones. That bill didn't make it this year, he said.

"So this is yet another school year that we'll miss the opportunity to make our kids safer," Norton said, adding that he's also offered Ragsdale a revenue share from the speeding fines, in which the speed camera company would get 35% of revenue, the city would get 45% and the district receive 20%. Norton said Ragsdale turned the offer down.

"Politics got in the way, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to pass it this session," Norton said.

Norton also noted that the camera installations are not about bringing extra revenue to the city or about having his "gotcha" moment against motorists. It's simply about safety, he said.

"When I thought about doing this at the beginning, (revenue) didn't even come into my mind," Norton said. "All I knew was that we had a big issue at Campbell Middle School, at the new King Springs, at Argyle. ... It's only going to take one horrible accident."

When the city conducted a one-day traffic study in early 2020, it found that 600 vehicles traveled at least 11 mph above the posted school zone speed limits during the restricted hours in the named school zones.

Since then, the city has seen an increase in pedestrian accidents and fatalities, though not specifically in school zones, Norton said. He pointed to the Atlanta Road area of Campbell Middle School as one of extreme concern for him.

"These kids walk so close to Atlanta Road to that sidewalk, and they cross over Atlanta Road into those neighborhoods," he said. "I just would hate for something terrible to happen when we had the opportunity to do something about it."

Austell's Clemons said his city conducted its own traffic study early this year and found 300 speeders of 11 or more mph on Austell-Powder Springs Road in front of Garrett Middle School and more than 1,200 on Meadows Road by Hendricks Elementary School.

The Austell City Council has also approved the installation of speed cameras in those school zones and is awaiting Ragsdale's signature, Clemons said, adding that he'd also lobbied for the Statehouse bill that would remove the superintendent signature requirement.

He said his city staff has talked with school district staff, but he hasn't specifically spoken to Ragsdale about his proposal.

Ragsdale: Speed cameras not the best solution

Speed cameras, according to Ragsdale, aren't the best option to deter speeders on busy roads, given that they simply aren't visible enough. The superintendent says his district is in the "unique situation" of having "more than 65 public safety officers" who can be a better speeding deterrent.

Also, the cameras are operated by a third party that determines whether something was a violation after it happens, Ragsdale said, while police officers can make a decision in real time.

Plus, he said, "When a driver sees a blue light on a vehicle, immediately they slow down, regardless of what the situation is," he said. "They could be going the speed limit, and they're still going to slow down, versus, you may see a sign that says, 'Speed camera in use," and you've blown by it by that time."

Ragsdale also said the school district's police chief, Ron Storey, asked parents and community members for feedback on the school zones in question and have made adjustments to help.

For example, at Campbell Middle, Ragsdale said an additional police officer was added to help pedestrians cross the busy, four-lane Atlanta Road to get to the neighborhoods where many students live on the other side. Bus routes that take students to those neighborhoods from the school have also been added to relieve students from having to cross the street at all.

"The safety of our staff and students is our top priority, and we take that very seriously," Ragsdale said. "It's not that we're just not interested in increasing the safety aspect ... we just believe that we have better solutions than the speed cameras in school zones that will accomplish a greater level of student and staff and community safety."

Norton, however, believes the school district's police force of upwards of 65 is spread too thin for the district's 112 schools.

"It's a very small number of resource officers for the amount of schools that they have," Norton said.

That, Ragsdale said, is a comparison of numbers that isn't fair, given that not all 111 schools will need a stationed police officer for traffic.

But Clemons, too, said he believes there are too few officers to police speeding violations, and he added that he didn't think that should be those officers' roles in the first place. That responsibility, he said, should remain with the city and county police forces.

What has led to the call for cameras?

Though they hadn't been a mainstream topic of discussion until the past couple of years, the calls for school zone speed cameras seem to have grown, at least in Smyrna, with the number of students walking and biking to school, said state Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna.

"I've driven past Campbell Middle School multiple times a day every day for the past 16 years, and it's really just in the past few years when you have seen throngs of children walking to school, riding their bikes to school, it's really fantastic," she said, noting the ease of access to Campbell Middle from the city's trail system. "You have families that are like, 'This is like trying to cross a busy highway.'"

Anulewicz, a former Smyrna councilwoman and a member of the Georgia House Transportation Committee, said those throngs are more apparent at Campbell Middle, but other schools — including Griffin Middle School and King Springs, Teasley and Smyrna elementary schools — have also seen that growth.

Both Anulewicz and Norton also noted as an example of the traffic danger the November 2017 death of a Lindley Middle School crossing guard who was struck trying to get a driver traveling at least 25 mph above the posted school zone speed limit to stop.

"We have had tragedies," Anulewicz said. "I think there are multiple factors, but I think it's not unlikely there (in Austell) too. I think you do have more families who are choosing to walk to school."

State Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, however, said the cameras can be lucrative.

"These cameras produce outrageous amounts of money for both the cities that authorize them and the contractors that put them in place," said Setzler, who also serves on the House Transportation Committee. "Cobb County School District recognizes very well these kinds of cameras are not needed to protect kids. What they're needed for is to print money for local governments."

Cameras seem to move ahead in Marietta

Meanwhile, in Marietta, speed cameras in certain school zones seem to be moving ahead without a hitch.

Marietta City Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera told the MDJ recently he had discussed the idea with Mayor Steve Tumlin and is open to the proposal. The Marietta school board would need to approve the contract with the city, and Rivera plans to discuss it with board members at their July 13 meeting.

"If it would keep our school zones safer, and in addition to that, allow MPD to better utilize their officers ... then I'm certainly in favor of that," Rivera said.

Rivera said certain schools have more speeding issues than others.

"We're fortunate in Marietta to have not had any children injured or killed ... I'm not waiting for that to happen for us to take additional measures to keep our streets safe," Rivera said.

Follow Thomas Hartwell on Twitter at twitter.com/MDJThomas.