RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) —Speed cameras near two Richmond Public Schools will be active starting March 18, allowing for the capture of speed violations in school zones.
The cameras have been placed near Linwood Holton Elementary School and Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts on the following streets:
- Linwood Holton Elementary School
- Safety Camera A1: Northbound Hermitage Road
- Safety Camera A2: Westbound Laburnum Avenue
- Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts
- Safety Camera B1: Eastbound Semmes Avenue
- Safety Camera B2: Westbound Semmes Avenue
The speed cameras are a part of the City’s Safety Camera Program under the Vision Zero Action Plan.
The cameras are placed based on the respective schools’ proximity to the City’s High Injury Street Network — a subset of roadways where there are a higher number of traffic-related crashes causing serious injuries or death.
Officials seek to eliminate speeding on City streets, noting “the likelihood that a crash will kill or severely injure a person increases exponentially as speed increases.”
Richmond parent Jamie Dumas who lives near Linwood Holton Elementary told 8News that drivers tend to use the surrounding neighborhood streets as a shortcut, which causes speeding.
“People who are trying to go from Hermitage [Road] over to Brook [Road] will often cut through a neighborhood and they drive pretty fast down our streets,” Dumas said. “I feel like people do tend to speed pretty quickly down Hermitage and Laburnum [Avenue], especially in that corner. It’s not very safe in my opinion, and with the school being right there, there’s lots of kids around at all times, even on the weekends, on the playground.”
Lauren Mathews, a Patrick Henry School of Arts and Sciences parent, echoes the sentiment.
“The intersection is not quite square, [which] I think helps people feel a little bit like they can zoom through, and just the ambiguity of there’s some crosswalks, but almost no one stops for them, and so people that do stop feel like they’re going to get rear ended,” Mathews said.
According to the Richmond Police Department, as of the year-to-date, 14 speeding citations have been given to drivers violating the speed limit on the 1600 block of Laburnum Avenue compared to 74 in 2023. On the 3400 block of Semmes Avenue, no speeding citations have been given thus far, but five citations were given in 2023.
“It’s scary, and as a parent, as superintendent, I just want everyone to think about the little ones as if they were your own children making their way across the street and just stop, take a breath wherever you’re going. It’s not as important as that child’s life,” Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said.
Superintendent Kamras told 8News the issue of drivers speeding near school zones is personal to him.
“Unfortunately, I have literally been at Holton Elementary when my boys were younger, dropping them off there and seeing people zipping down, crossing Hermitage at 40, 50, sometimes even 60 miles per hour,” Kamras said. “That is basically a residential neighborhood, and we have lots of kids and families walking around.”
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards noted a total of 26 cameras in 13 locations would be placed as part of the City’s Safety Camera Program during the department’s end-of-year crime data briefing for 2023.
The speed cameras will capture drivers going 11 miles over the speed limit when school zones are active from 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. and from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m., when the school arrival and dismissal times occur.
Once the cameras are activated, there will be a 30 day warning period. After the 30 day warning period, drivers caught speeding will be fined $50 within the first 30 days of their first violation. After that, the fine will be $100.
