RICHMOND, Va. -- Several months after the Richmond Police Department launched its speed camera initiative in two different school zones, residents say drivers are still speeding.
Tara FitzPatrick, who works with Richmond City Safe Routes, has a child that attends Linwood Holton Elementary School.
Thursday afternoon, she used her speed radar to track speeding drivers during dismissal.
"50 miles an hour," FitzPatrick counted. "52, 49, 47."
"We have a school zone flasher going on right now, saying that it's 25 miles an hour. This is twice that. This is an unsurvivable speed if you're hit as an adult. It's certainly unsurvivable if you're hit as a child," FitzPatrick said.
According to data released from Richmond Police, during a trial period between February and mid-March, two speed cameras near Linwood Holton generated more than 3,000 speeding citations.
Nearly 2,000 citations were generated by two cameras near Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts on Semmes Avenue.
"It's just an embedded thing," said Taylor Whitehouse, who cycles near the school. "It's like, people get on this road and they think you need to speed. It's like what you do around this corner."
During the trial period, the city totaled 5,442 citations, averaging about 187 citations given each day. For about two weeks of enforcement in March, the number of citations dropped, with 176 citations given each day.
"The frustrating thing is too, is that we're not doing this around the clock," FitzPatrick said.
The cameras are only active between 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 2:15 to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.
"Maybe them not knowing when the camera is active, might be a good thing," Whitehouse said.
The goal is to have about 26 cameras in 13 different school zones along "high injury street networks."
Though Lucille M. Brown Middle and River City Middle were originally listed as the next two school zones to receive cameras, it's unclear if they will officially receive the cameras next.
It is also unclear when the roll-out to all 13 zones will be completed.
Four officers who were recently hired back by Richmond Police are in charge of reviewing every citation.
"They don’t come without a resource cost with me. So every one of those has to be reviewed by a sworn police officer," said Police Chief Rick Edwards during a press conference last week.
Both FitzPatrick and Whitehouse said speed cameras are a start, but wonder if they'll actually stop speeding drivers.
"I wish everybody would slow down," Whitehouse said.
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