Buffalo is now a step closer to making sure students are safe outside of the classroom.
Some 14 school zone speed cameras are going live across the city Monday, in hopes of catching drivers going too quickly near schools.
“The whole intent behind this is making sure that our students are safe going to and from school,” Mayor Byron Brown said at a press conference Friday.
The speed limit is 15 miles per hour in school zones. Speeding tickets can be issued to anyone driving between 16 and 25 miles per hour.
The new speed cameras will capture images of drivers going 26 miles per hour or faster.
The cameras are active from one hour before school starts and one hour after it ends for the day.
“When schools are letting out in the afternoon, you see a lot of irate drivers going by and not adhering to the crossing guards and the buses that have signs that are put out for stopping when kids are getting off of the bus,” said Leah Daniel, whose daughter goes to Buffalo Public Schools.
Daniel supports the cameras being implemented but hopes drivers out there are aware the cameras are there and what the rules of the road are.
“I asked some people if they know what the speeding limit was for when they’re around schools and they were like no, I do not know, so just making people aware of what the speeding limit is, so that we don’t have a lot of irate people being upset that they have tickets speeding near the school zones,” she said.
The state has authorized the city to install cameras in a total of 20 zones, meaning an addition six cameras will be installed in the near future.
The locations of all the cameras could change depending on the data picked up from them. The hope is to encourage motorists to drive carefully through school zones and pay attention on the roads.
“It’s not to hinder anyone but to help safer areas near our schools so that our kids are safer and so that we feel safer as parents,” Daniel said.
The school district is also thrilled to be making improvements for students' safety.
"We couldn't be happier, and our parents and students really appreciate that now in the City of Buffalo, you're put on notice that if you go past a school and you're speeding, you're going to get a ticket, and you're going to pay so that's very important for us,” said Will Keresztes, chief of intergovernmental affairs for BPS. “We want the safest set of circumstances for our students as they travel to and from school and this is helping to assure that.”
There is a grace period from January 6 to February 6. For drivers who receive a camera-enforced ticket during that time, it will serve as a warning. After that, it will be treated as an infraction and $50 fine.