Every three minutes during the school day, on average, the new school zone speed cameras in Cape Coral catch a speeder and send them a $100 fine.Chris Jagodzinski got one earlier this year outside of St. Andrew Catholic School.Jagodzinski doesn’t deny he was speeding. He said he probably just didn’t realize it.”My street is very empty during the school zone times, so that area doesn’t see a lot of kids, it doesn’t see parents picking up their children from school, so I don’t have that visual reminder to say, ‘Hey, slow down,'” Jagodzinski said.Which brings us to how this story started. Someone sent Gulf Coast News a message on Facebook asking why Cape Coral doesn’t have a speedometer sign before you enter any of its 17 school zones, where the speed limit is enforced by cameras — a practice done in Sanibel.”People do get pretty good notice,” said Sanibel police Chief William Dalton.Dalton said the goal of the program is public safety, not making money. He said that as of Nov. 6, the city’s school zone speed cameras have triggered 894 citations, resulting in no profit for the city.”There’s a threshold that you have to get to before the company starts paying the police department, or the city. That threshold covers the cost of the equipment. I forget what it is exactly, but we have never broken that threshold yet,” Dalton said. He believes the speedometer signs are part of the reason people slow down.The latest available data from Cape Coral showed the city’s school zone speed cameras triggered nearly 12,000 tickets in just the first three months of the program. The city’s share alone for those tickets was $600,000.We asked the city of Cape Coral about the idea of putting up speedometer signs before the school zones, like Sanibel.The city referred me to the police department, which said it’s the responsibility of drivers to know how fast they’re going.They also sent me a statement from Chief Anthony Sizemore, who said, “If we ran this program and had zero violations and didn’t make one red cent, I’d be happy, because that would equate to safety.”Chris Jagodzinski couldn’t agree more, and he believes a sign like this would go a long way.”With the money they’ve made off the program, I can’t see why implementing more safety measures wouldn’t be their top priority,” Jagodzinski said. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.
CAPE CORAL, Fla. —
Every three minutes during the school day, on average, the new school zone speed cameras in Cape Coral catch a speeder and send them a $100 fine.
Chris Jagodzinski got one earlier this year outside of St. Andrew Catholic School.
Jagodzinski doesn’t deny he was speeding. He said he probably just didn’t realize it.
“My street is very empty during the school zone times, so that area doesn’t see a lot of kids, it doesn’t see parents picking up their children from school, so I don’t have that visual reminder to say, ‘Hey, slow down,'” Jagodzinski said.
Which brings us to how this story started. Someone sent Gulf Coast News a message on Facebook asking why Cape Coral doesn’t have a speedometer sign before you enter any of its 17 school zones, where the speed limit is enforced by cameras — a practice done in Sanibel.
“People do get pretty good notice,” said Sanibel police Chief William Dalton.
Dalton said the goal of the program is public safety, not making money. He said that as of Nov. 6, the city’s school zone speed cameras have triggered 894 citations, resulting in no profit for the city.
“There’s a threshold that you have to get to before the company starts paying the police department, or the city. That threshold covers the cost of the equipment. I forget what it is exactly, but we have never broken that threshold yet,” Dalton said.
He believes the speedometer signs are part of the reason people slow down.
The latest available data from Cape Coral showed the city’s school zone speed cameras triggered nearly 12,000 tickets in just the first three months of the program. The city’s share alone for those tickets was $600,000.
We asked the city of Cape Coral about the idea of putting up speedometer signs before the school zones, like Sanibel.
The city referred me to the police department, which said it’s the responsibility of drivers to know how fast they’re going.
They also sent me a statement from Chief Anthony Sizemore, who said, “If we ran this program and had zero violations and didn’t make one red cent, I’d be happy, because that would equate to safety.”
Chris Jagodzinski couldn’t agree more, and he believes a sign like this would go a long way.
“With the money they’ve made off the program, I can’t see why implementing more safety measures wouldn’t be their top priority,” Jagodzinski said.
DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.