Speed cameras in school zones were a hot topic in the state Assembly last week — though Jamestown’s proposed school speed zone camera system wasn’t among the bills discussed.

Jamestown’s legislative authorization for speed cameras in school zones never moved from the Transportation Committee when it was introduced by Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, in January. Goodell voted against all three school zone speed camera bills that came before the Assembly on Tuesday — and one of those in Syracuse nearly mirrors the one proposed in Jamestown.

The Syracuse and Jamestown proposals make the car owner liable for the failure of a driver to comply with speed limits in school zones. Both bills allow speed cameras to be in use during school hours, an hour before and an hour after school hours, during periods of student activities at the school and up to 30 minutes and 30 minutes after school activities. Both bills come with a $50 fine for violations.

The lone difference is the Syracuse program allows vehicles to travel up to 30 miles an hour in a school zone without getting a ticket while the Jamestown proposal would result in a fine for exceeding the posted 20 mile an hour speed limit.

During debate on A.6687/S.6632, Goodell laid out his reasons for voting against the Syracuse proposal.

“The next problem, however, is for innocent drivers who may not even realize that the cameras are on a half an hour before and a half an hour after any school event,” Goodell said. “Who has a calendar of school events and after school activities? You have to know when the school play is in order to know when the cameras are on? It’s completely impossible to evaluate. As noted before and when my colleagues mentioned, it’s the driver in control that you want to go after. So if you have a police officer they give a ticket to the driver, the driver gets points on their license, They pay a fine but under this one, the ticket goes to the owner of the car, not the driver. So it doesn’t have the deterrent effect that we would hope.”

Republicans generally voted against the speed camera bills being discussed in the Assembly last week. Assemblywoman JoAnne Simon, D-Brooklyn, supported the Syracuse bill for one simple reason.

“People do not want to get caught speeding and the answer to that is to not speed. We all know that vehicular crashes are more dangerous the faster that people are driving. This is a measure to deter people from speeding. So you don’t want to pay the fine, don’t speed. I think this is a very good bill and I’m happy to vote in the affirmative.”

According to the Jamestown Police Department’s 2022 annual report released earlier this year, there were 29 motor vehicle accidents within 50 meters of a school zone during school hours during the school year. Of those, six were near Jamestown High School, nine were near Love Elementary School, four were near Lincoln Elementary School, three were near Washington Middle and Ring Elementary schools, two were near Fletcher Elementary School, one happened near Bush Elementary and Persell Middle School and none happened near Jefferson Middle School.

The JPD report did not include a breakdown of traffic citations in school zones, though Police Chief Tim Jackson told City Council members earlier this year that officers regularly patrol school zones during the morning and afternoons when children are going to and from school.

“Now we’ve been told this is the same as a parking ticket,” Goodell said. “But I’ve got news for you — very few school kids are hurt or killed by parked cars. We’re talking about speeding cars. The best way to protect our kids in a school zone is to have an officer there who’s giving the tickets to the driver whose responsible, who’s exceeding the speed limit that’s posted and is putting points on their license as they should. Sadly this bill doesn’t accomplish that.”