NEW TAMPA — More than 2,100 drivers were caught speeding near Turner-Bartels K-8 School during a two-day traffic study this spring, helping push the city of Tampa toward expanding its speed enforcement camera program.
On June 4, after intensive debate, the City Council advanced an ordinance that updates the list of school zones considered a heightened safety risk and eligible for automated speed enforcement.
It added 18 schools in all, including five in New Tampa.
RedSpeed Florida LLC, which has already signed a contract, will install and operate the camera systems.
But several council members voiced concerns about the state and federal use of any data collected by the cameras, leading to a prolonged debate.
While it passed the first reading, there are expected to be a number of changes before the second reading in July.
Bad, good news for New Tampa
If it passes second reading, that could be good news for several New Tampa schools that made the list and have had issues with speeding cars during drop-off and pickup.
Turner-Bartels K-8, Benito Middle, Liberty Middle/Freedom High and Chiles Elementary have been flagged for camera installation due to the high volume of speeding recorded during a two-day study between April 1 and April 8.
Turner-Bartels K-8 had the most concerning numbers among New Tampa schools, recording 2,119 speeding violations during the study, or 1,060 per day. That’s 41.4% of all traffic passing the school on Imperial Oaks Boulevard, right off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.
On Cross Creek Boulevard, Benito Middle School also saw significant speeding, with 1,547 violators in a two-day window, or 773 per day.
While the overall violator percentage at Benito was lower than Turner-Bartels at 7.43%, the sheer volume of traffic (over 20,000 vehicles) makes it high-risk for students and has been a long-standing issue for the school at Cross Creek Boulevard and Kinnan Street.
The study targeted vehicles exceeding the school zone speed limit by more than 11 miles per hour and was based on the violation speed being set at 26 mph during enforced school zone hours (when the limit is generally 15 mph) and 41 mph during normal hours (when the limit is 30 mph).
In the case of Turner-Bartels, 1,450 of the 2,119 violators were tagged during hours when the speed limit was 15.
At Benito, however, where the speed limit is 20 mph during the opening and closing bell period, 1,415 of the 1,547 violators were going at least 31 mph.
Better safety on the way
The joint campus of Liberty Middle and Freedom High schools on Commerce Park Boulevard is also set for enforcement. Cameras will be placed to monitor the 11.09% of drivers who were caught speeding. The study identified 1,057 violators over two days.
Two Tampa Palms elementary schools were also studied. Chiles saw 828 violators over two days and will qualify for speed cameras, while Tampa Palms Elementary did not make the cut after posting significantly lower numbers than any other New Tampa school studied, with only 165 violators over two days, or 4.15% of all vehicles.
The New Tampa schools are just part of a broader citywide concern. The speed study covered 31 schools (in 29 school zones) and determined that 18 school zones met the criteria. At least six of those schools are among the 12 previously fitted with cameras, and the other six will be removed from the 2024 list.
St. Lawrence Catholic’s school zone on North Himes Avenue has been added to the list with a staggering 6,043 violations in two days, with a violators rate of 35% of all traffic. That is by far the most speeders in the school zones that were studied.
Robinson High had the second-most violators, with 4,886 — nearly half of all drivers (49.7%) were found to be speeding — while Lanier Elementary on Westshore Boulevard and Young Middle Magnet on E. Dr. MLK Boulevard also topped a daily average of 1,000.
The effect of the ordinance is expected to reduce the speeding through monitoring that police and sheriff patrols cannot provide around the clock.
The revised list is based on actual speeding data rather than broader factors used in previous studies. The goal, they say, is to attack a persistent problem and keep students safe.
Council member Alan Clendenin voted against the ordinance, saying the study was conducted by a private company (but the one most used in the state of Florida) with financial stakes in the cameras.
But fellow council member Luis Viera, who said that he hears from parents at schools like Benito and Chiles all the time about speeding concerns, said that most of the concerns the council has can be fixed between readings, and urged it to move the ordinance along.
“I stress we shouldn’t let the potential misuse of this program preclude the reasonable and normal use of this program, which benefits public safety,” he said. “We’re changing the schools, that’s it. If there’s other issues that, again, I’m very sympathetic to, that we want to take a look at, let’s do that. But I think we ought to pass this thing on first reading.”