This Is When Niceville Will Turn On Its New School Zone Speed Cameras:

In Brief:

โ€ขWhat: ๐Ÿšฆ Activation of school zone traffic cameras to issue fines

โ€ขWhen: ๐Ÿ“… February 3, with fines starting in April

โ€ขWhere: ๐Ÿ“ Near Niceville High School and Ruckel Middle School

โ€ขWhy: ๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ To improve safety and reduce speeding in school zones while generating revenue

Niceville will turn on its new school zone traffic cameras near Niceville High School and Ruckel Middle School on Feb. 3, Niceville City Manager David Deitch said at January’s monthly city council meeting.

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The Cameras, operated by a third-party vendor, read license plates and mail traffic tickets to violators automatically.

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Tickets, when sent, will go to drivers going more than 11 miles over the speed limit during school zone hours. Those hours are on school days before and after school – with an additional thirty-minute buffer time before the school zone times begin and end.

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Each ticket will cost a driver $100 – and the City will split the revenue generated by the violation. According to our earlier reporting – the City expects to generate some $4-5 Million for the City and another $1.5 Million for the School district every year, as well as a 90% reduction in speeding in school zones. To generate the revenue the City expects, the cameras must issue at least 55,000 tickets a year. According to the Florida Department of Transportation’s traffic maps, roughly 13.5 million trips are made on State Route 20 between Palm Boulevard and State Route 285 every year. Another 2.9 Million trips are made on Mayor Randall Wise Memorial Parkway (State Route 285 inside City Limits). Those numbers mean the City would expect to give three out of every thousand drivers a ticket daily.

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RELATED: Niceville Signs Contract With Speed Camera Provider Altumint

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While the system will go online on Feb. 3, drivers need not worry about getting fined for several months. City Manager Deitch noted they will have a 60-day adjustment window for drivers where they will send citations without fines to remind them not to speed in the school zone while the flashing lights are on.

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After the 60-day period ends, at the beginning of April, the technology will issue fines per state law.

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