This file shot of the southbound speed camera on North Albany Road will have to serve one more time.
The city of Albany’s new speed cameras on North Albany Road will come with warnings that indicate when the school zone speed limit of 20 mph is in effect.
The city council voted Wednesday night to install flashing lights. The action was taken by voice vote, and I heard no dissent. But it came with no details about how much the lights would cost or when they would be in place.
At the council’s last meeting, Councilwoman Carolyn McLeod said she didn’t want to vote on anything having to do with the speed cameras on North Albany Road. She feared she might be accused of a conflict of interest because she was one of the hundreds of people who received a speeding ticket there. I did not hear whether she said something or stayed silent during Wednesday’s vote.
City Manager Peter Troedsson told the council that the staff had met with a contractor on the flashing-light project. But he didn’t give details.
One question that needs to be cleared up: Will the lights flash only, as a state law seems to require, when pupils are leaving or arriving at the two schools on North Albany Road? And if so, does that mean the school zone speed limit is in effect only during those brief periods?
Or will the lights merely indicate that the zone limit is in effect because it’s a school day? In that case the 20 mph limit would be in effect from 7 to 5, as the school zone signs say, not just when children are arriving or leaving.
The council also spent some time Wednesday going back and forth about allowing people to avoid a fine for a first-time speeding ticket if they take a traffic class, regardless of their age. Apparently now in city court, that kind of “diversion” is available only to first-time violators under 25.
Eventually, the council will have to pass an ordinance specifying just what it wants by way of diversion. We’ll know what that is when an ordinance is drafted and comes up for a vote.
The speed camera saga on North Albany Road never seems to end. That’s because the previous council ordered, in late 2023, speed and red-light cameras in that school zone without asking questions or thinking through any of the issues it would create. (hh)
“…without asking questions or thinking through any of the issues it would create.” Pretty much sums up MOST of the council’s decisions.
Councilor McLeod, for those not in the room, pushed back her chair, away from her microphone at dais, and did not voice a vote.
She has recused herself because she got a ticket. I don’t understand why there was so much discussion about traffic school, every normal community I know has traffic school. You go to court, tell the judge sorry, pay a fine, go to school and don’t tell the insurance company. Usually resets every four years. It seemed like it was the first time they ever ran a court system. We spend a lot of time on some very strange action items that have been around for decades.
I volunteer to stand by school and wave big red flag whenever school speed limit in session. This whole thing crazy – how many signs and flashing lights needed to alert sleepy drivers to just follow simple traffic laws. I bet even with human flag wavering still not enough. Perhaps drivers are the problem, not the cameras.
THEY NEED THE RED LIGHT & SPEEDING TICKET MONEY TO FIX THE POTHOLES……THAT 22 MILLION WOULD HAVE FIXED ALOT OF POTHOLES..
Let’s have flashing amber lights at South Albany high too.
How difficult is it, from September 1st to the second week of June and excepting federal holiday, to SLOW THE HECK DOWN IN SCHOOL ZONES?!?!
Do you need your Mommy and Daddy to hold your hand? Is your meeting so important that you can’t take an extra 30 seconds to drive though a school zone? Are you so narcissistic that you don’t think the rules don’t apply to you?
An extra 30 SECONDS…that’s all it takes to get through a school zone. 30 SECONDS that can potentially save a child’s life. And if you don’t care about someone else’s child…don’t forget that you’re not the only one driving through a school zone and that 30 seconds could save YOUR child’s life.
No one has mentioned there are activities not within regular school hours. Sometimes there is even more activity because of parents cars going in and out. Lights should be activated during those times as well. I agree that people should always be careful driving where children maybe present but we have lights and signage for giving people reminders of their surroundings for many potential hazards. In an ever stressful world clear communication is necessary to ensure peoples safety and well being. Safety classes are an excellent idea. The classes and courts should be coordinated to accommodate work hours too. Many people pay fines due to their work schedule even though the fines were given in error because they cannot get time off work to go to court dates.
I sent a letter to GAPS Board and Supt. Gardner asking who authorized the sign in front of NA Elementary school to read “no school today” which caused hundreds of drivers to get speeding tickets that day. Law of unintended consequences prevailed. No response to my letter. This whole mess resulted from that misleading sign. Not even an apology from school system.
The sign was right. If anybody needs to make amends, it’s the city enforcement system that fined people caught in what amounts to a trap.