City of Alexandria
Time to get back into the habit of slowing down (a lot) around schools.
School zone speed cameras will be turning on again Aug. 19, the first day of school in Alexandria and in Fairfax County.
The cameras are active during set hours, typically before and after school, are take photos of drivers exceeding the posted school zone speed limit. Camera activity is indicated by flashing signs. Drivers who are traveling above the speed limit while the school zones are active receive a $100 citation in the mail.
In July, Fairfax County released an update from its police department about the effectiveness of the program and plans to expand it to another 80 sites in the coming years. In addition, this fall, about 50 Fairfax County school buses will be equipped with cameras from Verra Mobility to begin a school bus stop arm enforcement program.
From April 2023 through May 2024, the County sent out more than 25,000 tickets to drivers. At $100 per ticket, that's $2.5 million in potential revenue (some tickets were challenged in court).
Alexandria City has not released similar data, but the city has many fewer cameras than the county.
Fairfax County found that the average speed of drivers decreased between 14% and 20% since the program launched. However, the average speed of drivers in each speed camera zone remained higher than the 25 mph allowed. (In the City of Alexandria, most school speed zones are set to 15 mph near cameras.)
