Hendry County rolls out cameras for school speed zones

The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has rolled out a new way of enforcing school zone speed limits by using cameras that will target drivers traveling over a certain speed in a school zone.

In partnership with Altumint, a company that provides AI-enabled traffic technology, Hendry County will introduce the first school zone speed enforcement program to Southwest Florida.

Under the new system, cameras will capture the license plates of people speeding over 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. The violation is then sent to HCSO for final review.

“We’ve known for a while at Hendry County that we’ve had an issue with speeders in our school zones. However, I did not know to what magnitude,” said Sheriff Steve Whidden. “Just in this past five day period, almost 9,000 cars were doing 11 miles an hour.”

According to Altumint’s Senior Vice President Jason Norton, the goal of the endeavor is to keep kids safer, hold speeders accountable and reduce speeding in school zones without dipping into taxpayer dollars.

“The great thing about the Altumint and Hendry County partnership is that it’s a violator-funded program, not a taxpayer-funded program, so even if violations go to zero, taxpayers won’t be on the hook to pay for this technology,” said Norton.

The cameras will be installed at seven schools in Hendry County.

For now, speeders will have a warning period.

Beginning on Feb. 3, violators will receive a $100 fine and no points on their license if they pay the fine within 30 days.