At an hour and fifteen minutes into the September 16, 2025 Sandy Springs city council meeting, the issue of speeding tickets near Riverwood and North Springs high schools was brought up.
Evidently a lot of criminals are complaining to city hall about receiving fines. Per 1:16:40, quoting loosely and including some later clarifications about the speeding fines,
As of Friday, 2,274 citations have been issued. 1,736 citations occurred when the signs were flashing, when speed limit was 25 mph, 7:20-8:20, 3:30-4:30 pm. Fines only for 10+ mph violation, so 35 mph during those limited hours. An officer reviews footage to validate the fine is applied to the correct vehicle. When lights are not flashing but school is in session, cameras are issuing tickets for vehicles going 45 or higher in the 35 mph zone. 609 warning issued before enforcement began.
It's only an $75 fine for first offense. $125 for subsequent offenses.
Agreement with speed camera vendor will terminate next year as currently written. Only 27 tickets have been challenged in city court.
A few background facts. The vast majority of violent deaths and injuries in Sandy Springs are caused by drivers. Speeding and other criminal activity by drivers is rampant in Sandy Springs, as anybody can observe on our streets. A Sandy Springs officer was injured on Saturday September 20, 2025, while working a crash site, revealing how dangerous it is for our first responders to work on the side of the road and providing one reason among many that they should not be tasked with low level interventions that can be automated at lower cost and lower risk.
Anecdotally, I have talked to a police officer while standing side by side watching criminals speed and hold their phones while driving in front of us. We were standing on Roswell Road, near where a pedestrian was killed by a driver earlier this year. I asked him why the police didn't pull over more of these criminals outside of the daycare where I send my kids, and where multiple drivers had crashed into the parking lot over the past few years. It was a casual conversation, and the officer told me plainly that drivers complain to city hall when they get tickets. Our democratically elected leaders give enforcement priorities to the police, and intentionally or not elected leaders have sent the message that they don't want to receive complaints from voters who get tickets.
We do not need more warnings for speeders. We do not need an amnesty or pardon. We do not need more signs telling speeders to ignore the speed limit elsewhere in Sandy Springs and only recognize it near high schools. We do not need elected officials telling criminals that actually they're the victims because they get a fine. We do not need elected officials giving police officers the message that if they put themselves in harms way for the sake of public safety to give a driver a ticket, then city hall will be upset with the police department when that criminal calls and complains.
We need more enforcement of traffic laws. We need speed cameras at all of our schools, and elsewhere on our roads too. We need red light cameras. We need to stop drivers from staring at their phones while driving through Sandy Springs. We need traffic calming to reduce speeds. We need to reduce the death and injury caused when drivers crash in our community.
If people are surprised by getting a speeding ticket during the school day because the light isn't flashing, they should learn to drive! The speed limit exists at all hours. Anyone driving is supposed to be trained and licensed to drive, they should already know how to follow the speed limit. When drivers complain to city hall that they've been fined, we need leaders to stand up to them and tell them to learn their lesson. If learning to drive is too difficult for folks, that is one more reason to use alternative modes of transportation. That's a more productive direction for the city council to pursue.
