School zone speeder clocked at 100+ mph

Maia Belay
·2 min read

WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio (WJW) –   A local police department plans to catch school zone speeders in the act, some blowing past school zone signs at 100 miles per hour.

“School zone safety and enforcement is a priority to us,” said Willougby Hills Police Chief Matthew Naegele. “The studies that we ran showed a very large number of violators.”

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Stationary automated traffic photo enforcement systems are now being used at school zones along Som Center and Chardon Road. A roughly 30-day grace period began Dec. 4, after which citations will be issued.

“The one study that we conducted last school year through the school zone at Som Center Road, we had one vehicle travel in excess of 100 miles per hour through,” said Naegele.

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Photo enforcement will be operational during the school day, before and after school generally between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Hours Naegele said are among the most critical to slow down speeders.

“This is a preventative thing,” said Naegele. “Just because you haven’t had a child that was struck in that area certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enforce the area.”

The Willoughby-Eastlake School District did not respond to a request for comment about the initiative.

There is a buffer for speed citations Naegele said, 11 miles per hour or more beyond the speed limit will be subject to ticketing.

“At that point in time, it’s hard for a violator to say, ‘I didn’t realize I was speeding.'”

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Police are also using handheld photo enforcement devices on I-90, the site of numerous speed-related crashes. Naegele said police vehicles have been rear-ended over the years trying to conduct traffic enforcement.

“We’re a very proactive police department we’re going to continue to be,” said Naegele. “This is going to be a supplement to it because we simply don’t have enough people to address the volumes that we’re seeing in reckless speed violators.”

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