The time has come once again to pump your breaks near schools in Savannah and Chatham County.
Not only will police officers be searching for back-to-school speeders, but School Zone Speed Cameras switch on Aug. 1 at two private and about 30 public school zones.
The Savannah Police Department (SPD), the Chatham County Police Department (CCPD) and Garden City Police Department (GCPD) and Thunderbolt Police Department oversee photo enforcement zones with the assistance of monitoring technology provided by Blue Line Solutions .
Representatives from the Pooler and Port Wentworth Police Departments said they do not use the cameras. However, police officers will be placed near schools in their jurisdictions at the beginning of, and throughout, the school year.
GCPD Lieutenant Shane Glasco confirmed that Garden City Elementary School, 4037 Kessler Ave., is its only photo-enforced school zone. He said discussions have been underway regarding potentially adding a zone near the Davis-Edwards-Harris Educational Complex (which houses Robert W. Groves High School and George A. Mercer Middle School) at 100 Priscilla D. Thomas Way.
Thunderbolt Police Department oversees citations at Sol C. Johnson High School 3012 Sunset Blvd., which will now also include cameras along Sunset Blvd. and Shell Road. Those newer zone cameras will have a 30-day warning period before ticketed citations will be issued.
If you want to avoid a ticket simply slow down, but also look over these additional enforcement zones before you hit the road this Thursday and beyond.
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SPD photo enforcement school zones
City of Savannah Public Safety Communications Manager Neil Penttila provided an update to its school photo enforcement zones, which has a few more schools on it than last year.
Note that Largo-Tibet Elementary has been removed because the school was decommissioned this past spring. School addresses included below do not indicate the exact location of the school's photo enforcement speed zone.
- Alfred E. Beach High School, 3001 Hopkins St.
- Godley Station K-8 School, 2135 Benton Blvd.
- Robert W. Gadsden Elementary School, 919 May St.
- STEM Academy at Bartlett, 207 E. Montgomery Crossroad
- Jacob G. Smith Elementary School, 210 Lamara Drive
- Esther F. Garrison School of the Arts, 649 W. Jones St.
- Lee Roy Myers Middle School, 2025 E. 52nd St. #4872
- Savannah Classical Academy, 705 E. Anderson St.
- Savannah Early College High School and School of Liberal Studies at Savannah High, 400 Pennsylvania Ave.
- Leiston Shuman Elementary School, 415 Goebel Ave.
- Susie King Taylor Community School, 1709 Bull St.
- White Bluff Elementary School, 9402 White Bluff Road
- Windsor Forest Elementary School, 414 Briarcliff Circle
- Andrea B. Williams Elementary School, 1150 Wheaton St.
- John W. Hubert Middle School, 768 Grant St.
- DeRenne Middle School, 1009 Clinch St. + Sarah Mills Hodge Elementary School, 975 Clinch St.
- Zone for both schools is located near 52 nd St. and Mills B. Lane Blvd
Additional Speed Zone info: Review information on last year's school speed zones
CCPD photo enforcement school zones
Between August 2023 and May 2024, CCPD issued 37,374 school speed zone photo enforcement citations . "That's just not acceptable," said CCPD's Public Information Officer Betsy Nolen.
CCPD photo enforcement cameras will monitor the same 10 enforcement zones as it did last school year. Please review the 2024-2025 School Enforcement Times list at www.police.chathamcountyga.gov/Crime/SpeedCameraReport for more details on timeframes and exact zone locations.
- Coastal Middle School, 4595 US-80
- Marshpoint Elementary School, 135 Whitemarsh Island Road
- Islands High School,170 Whitemarsh Island Road, falls within the same speed zone as Coastal and Marshpoint as they are along Highway 80
- Georgetown K-8 School, 1516 King George Blvd.
- May Howard Elementary School, 115 Wilmington Island Road
- St. Andrew's School, 601 Penn Waller Road
- Isle of Hope K-8 School, 100 Parkersburg Road
- Hesse K-8 School, 9116 Whitefield Ave.
- St. James Catholic School, 8412 Whitefield Ave.
- Southwest Elementary School, 6020 Ogeechee Road
- Southwest Middle School, 6030 Ogeechee Road
Important additional information
Revenue
Nolen said that CCPD's total revenue from the cameras during the 2023-2024 school year was $3.2 million. "Our portion is 62.5 percent, which would equal out to $2 million," she said.
State law dictates that fines collected through the photo enforcement program citations has to be spent on public safety purposes.
CCPD must also receive approval from Chatham County Commission. Nolen shared, for example, that in the fall of 2022, commissioners approved $250,000 for equipment and supplies to assist the " landfill search for the remains of missing child Quinton Simon ."
Blue Line Solutions, which owns, operates and maintains the cameras as well as handles mailing of citations and customer service needs, also receives a percentage of each departments' citation revenue. Blue Lines cut from CCPD revenues was $1.18 million last school year.
Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Public Information Officer Sheila Blanco also confirmed that Chatham County Board of Public Education Police Department (BOEPD) receives 5 percent of the other departments' citation revenues, which was about $160,000 from CCPD from August 2023 through May 2024. The BOEPD must also use the funds solely for public safety purposes.
SPD and GCPD did not compile revenue data, but GCPD confirmed that it issued about 1800 tickets for the Garden City Elementary zone. SPD did not confirm a citation total prior to publication.
Avoid a fine
Aside from the SPD, CCPD and GCPD information campaigns, drivers who use the Waze app will receive notifications when they approach a school speed zone.
Electronic monitoring signs that flash drivers' speeds and allow them time to slow down before they enter the speed zone provide another warning signal. Citations are issued to cars traveling 11 miles-per-hour or above the posted speed limit, which is reduced in timeframes where children travel to and from school. Speed limits revert back to regularly posted speeds while school is in session.
Fine amounts
First offenses will cost drivers $75 along with a $25 processing fee. Additional infractions result in a $125 fine, plus the processing fee.
Impact on drivers' records
The citations are civil penalties, meaning no points will be deducted from a license. Car owners who opt to not pay their fines will be denied registration renewal on the car caught speeding.
Contesting a citation
Should you receive a citation, Nolen said that, "by the time it comes in the mail it has been vetted by Blue Line and a sworn CCPD officer." The same goes for SPD and GCPD. However, citations can be contested by calling the number on the back to schedule a court date.
The speed zone cameras do not run on weekends, holidays or during school breaks (including summer).
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Slow down! Here's the full list of Savannah's school speed photo enforcement zones
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