Miami-Dade commissioners would divvy up a slice of county traffic fines from school speed zones in a final vote they face next week after unanimous committee approval. The legislation designates “existing staff” to be the hearing officer’s clerk to handle school zone fines, thus avoiding any fund control by incoming sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, who takes office in January. The legislation doesn’t mention the sheriff’s office. The sponsor is new Chairman Anthony Rodriguez, who last year sponsored legislation that allowed use of road speed detection systems in 206 public and private school speed zones. Last year’s measure piggybacked on a 2023 state law allowing counties to enforce speeds on school zone roadways using speed detection systems. Florida school zone limits range from 15 to 20 miles per hour when children are likely to be present. Last year’s county legislation said “speed violations in school zones in the unincorporated area of the county are rampant, with the Miami-Dade Police Department issuing nearly 2,500 citations for speeding in a school zone in the last year alone.” Police could have issued many more citations by using a speed detection system, that legislation said. But those police will soon be controlled by the sheriff rather than the county administration. Commissioners last fall approved acquisition of an automated school zone speed detection and enforcement system and the county negotiated a contract with RedSpeed Georgia LLC, a division of RedSpeed International, developers of camera enforcement software. Penalties for speeding incidents more than 10 miles above the limit in zones that RedSpeed video equipment records are split into multiple pots of money. The proposed legislation says $20 of each fine goes to the state general fund, the county gets $60 to administer the detection systems in school zones and other public safety efforts, $3 goes to the state Department of Law Enforcement Criminal Standards and Training Trust Fund, and $12 goes to the school district for school security, student transportation, or pedestrian safety. Finally, the county gets $5 to recruit school crossing guards. RedSpeed by contract gets $33 of every $100 collected. After subtracting that from the county’s $60 share of each fine, Miami-Dade keeps a percentage of penalties for public safety initiatives – the money Mr. Rodriguez seeks to divvy up among commissioners in unincorporated areas, which is where the speed equipment is placed. In the program, a traffic enforcement officer must issue citations, and the state requires that officer to have a clerk handle the money. Mr. Rodriguez proposes the county “designate existing staff to serve as the clerk of the local hearing officer,” thus keeping the money under commission control. The legislation would designate the division chief of the Passenger Transportation Regulatory Division within the Department of Transportation and Public Works (which the mayor recently said is soon to be split in two) as clerk of the hearing officer. The clerk would subdivide those funds based on the unincorporated municipal services area population and square miles in each commission district. Commissioners who represent only cities and towns would get nothing. The RedSpeed system can detect speeding, red lights, average speed, mobile phone use, high occupancy vehicles, railway crossings, seatbelt use and other traffic violations. The county aimed for a “turnkey installation and operations of an automated speed detection and enforcement system at school zones.” In Florida, no school zones speeding warnings are issued. Fines for up to 9 miles over the school zone limit are $50, rising to $200 for 10 to 15 miles over the limit, and $300 for 25 to 29 miles. Over 30 miles above the limit, fines range from $250 to $500. Last year’s legislation allowed counties to install a “portable or fixed automated system used to detect a motor vehicle’s speed using radar or LiDAR and to capture a photograph or video” of speeding cars. Related Posts:Road speed detection systems for 206 schools roar aheadAutomatic school speed zone videos advancePhotographic speed controls could guard 206…Legislators green light a red-light camera banMiami Beach planning school speed detectorsThe post Commissioners may divvy up school speed zone fines appeared first on Miami Today.