MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Speeding cameras have been up and running in Milledgeville school zones since last November. While they only operate during the school year, they're now responsible for thousands of tickets.
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha tells us just how much money the cameras are bringing in, and some folks in town tell us if traffic has slowed down.
Over the past six months, the Milledgeville Police have sent out over 4,000 tickets based on the two cameras in front of Baldwin County High School, and over 300 tickets based on the cameras in front of Georgia Military College. That's over $160,000 in speeding fines, but some people think it's for the best.
Wendy Alford works at the Circle K across from Baldwin County High. She says before the speeding cameras, it was dangerous on Highway 49.
"It was like a racetrack out there, pretty much. Just folks hauling butt,” she explains.
Alford says traffic has slowed down mostly, but some still don't care.
"They're still going to speed through here. They don't care that they're steadily getting popped with $75 tickets down everyday, and then you have some that do care,” she says.
Wendy says that the cameras are, overall, for the better of the community.
“I think they need to add more in different areas and not just at the schools because there's a lot of people that think our roads are race tracks out here,” she says.
Myles Somerset is a freshman at Georgia Military College. He says the fines aren't enough and the city should do more.
"Either speed bumps or something that can actually control your speed as opposed to just telling you your speed and getting a citation for it would help,” Somerset says.
City manager Hank Griffeth says so far they have no solid plans to install more cameras, or more speeding safety measures. However, he says installing the cameras was important.
"Somebody has to exceed the speed limit by 11 miles per hour to be cited, so I think that's pretty indicative of how fast the speeds may actually be that are going through there,” Griffeth explains.
He says the public reaction has been mixed to the cameras, but traffic has slowed down.
"My personal opinion would be that they would almost have had to. Maybe a little more on Elbert Street than on Highway 49. I would be real surprised if I saw actual statistics that did not show that traffic had not slowed down,” he says.
Griffeth says by law, the money from fines must go to police equipment or school safety measures. He says that he's already starting speaking with the school district about creating new safety measures for schools.