Bibb County sheriff reinstates school zone speeding tickets

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office will resume issuing citations from school zone speed cameras starting Monday but will not issue tickets after morning arrival and before afternoon dismissal.

“They will be issued for speeding violations in school zones only during the times in the morning and in the afternoon when the yellow school zone warning light is flashing,” Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said in a Facebook post. 

Citations will be issued for any vehicles going 10 mph over the reduced speed limit as noted by the flashing signs that are active an hour before classes start and an hour after they end.

Stratford Academy and First Presbyterian Day School have opted out of the school zone camera program and not citations will be issued outside the two schools, according to the sheriff’s office.

Legislation curtailing speed zone cameras stalled in the General Assembly, including a bill filed by Rep. Dale Washburn (R-Macon) to ban the cameras and a separate bill to limit the hours of enforcement.

The sheriff’s office paused ticketing last month to seek further clarity on which schools can opt-out of enforcement. Even though tickets were still automatically captured by cameras during this time, the sheriff said he has no intention of retroactively enforcing violations.