When Investigator David Romano with the Albany Police Department’s Traffic Safety Division begins his 7 a.m. shift, he knows what to expect.
His radar picks up thousands of drivers speeding, especially on the morning commute. He typically tickets a couple dozen.
"When a police car is sitting in front of a school, people slow down because it's a deterrent,” said Romano. “When the police car is not sitting in front of the school, people think it's OK to break the law."
But something else is now watching for them. Albany's new school zone speed camera system tickets drivers speeding in school zones on school days between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
"The average person is either late, running late, forgot to get up early, forgot their coffee,” said Romano. “Just normal day-to-day things because everybody's always in a rush."
Between 2018-22, vehicular accidents in school zones in Albany resulted in 2,109 injuries and 11 deaths.
"You're 500% more likely to be seriously physically injured, struck at 40 miles an hour than at 20 miles an hour,” said Romano.
When a driver is captured going more than 11 miles over the 20 mph limit, they may not see sirens, but a few days later, they'll get notice of the violation in their mailbox with a $50 fine and a link to watch the infraction on video.
City of Albany Treasurer Darius Shahinfar handles the appeals.
"The speed limit in the school zones has been 20 miles per hour for decades,” said Shahinfar. “This is not a new thing. It's a new method of enforcement."
Once the ticket is issued, it has already been reviewed twice, once by the contracting company and again by a police officer. So the chances there's an obvious error that will get it tossed, officials say, are extremely low.
"My initial thought was really 'holy crap, I can't believe this many people are speeding,' ” said Shahinfar.
According to Shahinfar, 32,395 total tickets have been issued from the inception of the program through November 25. But, he says, issuance has dropped. From Oct. 7-31, 20,440 were issued, followed by 11,995 from Nov. 1-25.
Unlike a ticket issued during a traffic stop, these violations won't add points to your license or impact insurance. It's similar to a parking violation.
Romano is hopeful drivers will remember why it's so important to slow down.
"The majority average person probably thinks 'it's not going to happen to me’ and they have no due regard sometimes; they're just thinking about themselves,” said Romano.
The system is still rolling out to the remainder of the 20 school zones. As new zones come online, there will be a 30-day warning period before tickets are issued for speeding captured in those zones.