Jenoptik
Contributor
New life saving Florida legislation making school zone speed cameras legal took effect on Saturday, July 1. It will greatly increase school zone safety and keep the communities safer.
We know that school zone speed camera solutions save lives. A pedestrian who is struck by a vehicle traveling at 30 mph is twice as likely to be killed as a pedestrian struck by a vehicle at 25 mph. In 2019, 296 children in the U.S. were injured as pedestrians in motor vehicle crashes every week – seven of them fatally.
Jenoptik recently conducted a study of over 25,000 cars at Palm Beach County schools which showed that the majority (>70 percent) of drivers are speeding (over 20 mph) during morning drop off and afternoon pick up. Over 30 percent of these speed limit violators were exceeding 30 mph.
“As global industry experts in traffic monitoring, we have continually shown our whole-hearted support for automated speed enforcement in school zone legislation, especially in our home state of Florida and are thrilled for the passing of HB 657. This will enable us to enhance safety in school zones with our proven speed camera technologies, all locally designed, manufactured and serviced in-house, that help modify driver behavior to ensure our school zones remain safe for children and deliver peace of mind for parents,” says Dorian Grubaugh, VP Sales and retired police sergeant.
“From equipping the first police cars with mobile cameras in 1955, to inventing automatic license plate technology (ALPR) in 1979, we have an in-depth understanding on how best to design, develop, deploy and maintain these types of technologies, as well as the legislative hurdles involved,” stated Finbarr O’Carroll, President of Jenoptik’s Smart Mobility Solutions division in the Americas. “Furthermore, with 150 employees at our US headquarters located in Jupiter, Fla., we are ideally positioned to support this legislation and camera roll out across Florida.”