Speed cameras are coming to Tampa school zones. Here’s where.

Olivia George, Ian Hodgson, Tampa Bay Times
·4 min read

TAMPA — Cameras can soon stand guard outside schools in Tampa to enforce speed limits with the goal of deterring dangerous driving.

Tampa City Council members approved the installation of speed cameras around 13 schools Thursday, becoming among the first municipalities in the state to implement a new Florida law that permits them. They’ll capture images of cars driving too fast and automatically fine motorists traveling more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit in school zones.

Drivers will face a $100 fine. Cameras will enforce school-zone speed limits for 30 minutes before the start of the school day and for 30 minutes after. During school hours, they will enforce the standard speed limit.

The move comes as pedestrian deaths remain persistently high in the Tampa metro region and across the state. Tampa officials have called the city’s road safety issues a public health crisis, writing in a recent grant application: “Our roads are unsafe for everyone, but particularly so for people walking.”

The selected schools ― chosen considering factors such as crash data ― are:

  • Alexander Elementary

  • B.T. Washington Elementary

  • Cleveland Elementary

  • Ferrell Middle Magnet

  • Lomax Elementary Magnet

  • Orange Grove Middle Magnet

  • Potter Elementary

  • Shaw Elementary

  • Shore Elementary

  • Sulphur Springs Elementary

  • Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary

  • West Tampa Elementary

  • Young Middle Magnet

“More and more often we are seeing drivers distracted and taking unnecessary risks on roadways and especially in school zones,” Hillsborough County Public Schools spokesperson Tanya Arja wrote in an email to the Tampa Bay Times.

“There is no question, enforcement is key to ensuring we keep students safe,” Arja wrote. “School zone speed detection devices are a proactive solution to continue to protect students around their schools and neighborhoods.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law, which received bipartisan support, last May after advocates for pedestrian safety had tried but failed to push similar legislation for years. Detractors raise concerns about driver privacy and spur accusations that the programs are motivated by revenue for camera operators, not safety.

City staff hope to have the cameras in place starting in September. The city must first request proposals from contractors. State law requires the implementation of a public awareness campaign at least 30 days before enforcement begins.

The city must also provide annual reports to the public and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

“Speed cameras in school zones are a safety tool, not a moneymaking tool,” Hillsborough County transportation planner Lisa Silva told the Times.

Hillsborough County commissioners voted unanimously in November to allow cameras in school zones. The county is in the process of finding a vendor. St. Petersburg, meanwhile, “is not pursuing plans to install speed cameras,” a police spokesperson said. Pinellas County has not acted either.

Tampa City Council member Alan Clendenin was the lone vote against greenlighting the cameras Thursday, calling the automated enforcement of laws “a slippery slope.” Council member Gwen Henderson was absent.

“We have an ability through traditional law enforcement to enforce these rules,” Clendenin added.

The Tampa Police Department could not provide the Times with data on the number of school-zone tickets issued by officers last year by publication time.

Florida allows only financial penalties for camera-generated tickets and not, for example, the loss of a driver’s license.

Notices of violations must be sent by mail within 30 days of the violation and include a photo or recorded image of the school zone violation, per state law. Sixty dollars of each fine will be apportioned to public safety initiatives, including the upkeep of camera systems, $12 for efforts to make it safer for students to walk to school and $5 will pay for crossing guards.

The 13 schools selected for the initial camera program were determined based on a 2022 report that identified schools across the county with “a heightened safety risk.”

The evaluation criteria included traffic and crash data but also the demographics of the student body, including the proportion of students who receive a free lunch, and racial and economic demographics of the surrounding area.

“We know that roadway deaths and injuries tend to be higher in those communities,” Silva, the transportation planner, said. “Cameras are just one tool to make these roads safer.”