The Polk County Board of Education voted overwhelmingly to approve a request to sign an application for speed cameras to go up within the school zones for Cedartown High School and Cedartown Middle School in a partnership between the City of Cedartown and RedSpeed Georgia.

All but Chris Culver voted to approve the measure, which will allow for speed cameras to go up in the pair of school zones, with one setup for drivers on Highway 278, and two in the school zones around the high school and middle school on the Highway 27 bypass around downtown Cedartown. Culver, who participated in the December 8 regular meeting digitally, has previously dissented against the idea of having speed cameras when it was presented by Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd and Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome.

The system is being setup in hopes that it will slow down drivers in school zones during posted times as a safety measure after traffic studies conducted around several schools over the past months have shown speeding as a problem.

Officials have posed issues they have with the system, and Culver was a lead detractor along with some County Commissioners who have voiced their concerns with speed cameras.

With the approval of the board to move ahead with the PSD’s support for the installation of cameras, now the decision goes to the Department of Transportation on whether to approve the application.

If that is done, the three cameras could then be installed and made operational, but not before the public is given notice that the cameras are going to start operating.

Tickets sent to drivers caught speeding in school zones with the cameras are checked by several eyes before they end up in the mailbox of the owner of the vehicle. They are civil fines starting at $75 and go up in price after additional violations. Drivers can challenge them in local court should they feel they were inappropriately charged for speeding through the zone.

Redspeed’s Greg Parks previously stated that their programs in other municipalities in the metro Atlanta area – and somewhat closer to home in counties around Polk – have seen reductions in speeding through those areas of upward of 60% due to the cameras.

The Cedartown Commission in November approved their RedSpeed contract, based on the approval of the Board of Education to allow for the district to sign onto the application with the Department of Transportation. The City of Cedartown will split revenue with RedSpeed on each ticket issued and paid for by a driver.

State law governing school zone cameras requires that the local district where the cameras are to be placed sign onto an application requesting the cameras be installed on behalf of the police department and RedSpeed Georgia, but are not included in the process in any other way. They also are not part of any revenue-sharing agreement over issuance and payment of tickets between the company and the City of Cedartown.