School Zone Safety Program

The Violation date is the date that your violations occurred, and you were cited. The Issue date is the date that another officer approved the violation, and it was mailed out to you. Aging on your citation does not start until the issue date (day that the citation is sent out to you).

The due date is listed on the citation in the top right-hand corner and bottom right-hand corner. Failure to pay in full by the due date may result in late fees and/or other penalties.

Violations are in accordance with state and local law. If you wish to research the law that applies to the use of speed cameras, please see Georgia Law 40-14-18.

The speed cameras only operate on school days when school is in session. The cameras run one hour prior to the first class of instruction begins, during the school day, and one hour after the last class of instruction ends. The cameras automatically shut off after the hour at the end of the school day, on weekends, on digital learning days, on holidays, and on early release days. Early release days will trigger the cameras to shut off one hour after the hour of early release. How much is the fine for a citation received via a speed camera. The first violation is $75.00 and subsequent violations are $125.00. There is a $5.00 admin fee added on to all violations. To pay the fine without a court date, please call 833.252.1214 and have your citation number ready to give to the operator. If you wish to pay by mail, send a personal check, cashier’s check, or money order to P.O. Box 53307, Atlanta, GA 30353-3507 (Make payable to Gwinnett County School Zone Safety Program). Print the notice number on the payment and include the remittance stub at the bottom of the front of the notice / citation. To request a court date, submit the signed and dated coupon on the bottom of the notice / citation and mail it in the provided envelope. Your response must be received on or before the “payment or contest must be received by” date indicated on the front side of the notice / citation. You will be notified by mail of the assigned hearing date, time, and location. You may also schedule a court date by phone at 833-252-1214, have your notice / citation number ready for the operator.

Whenever you see a school zone sign that has flashing lights, it means the speed limit on that portion of the roadway is reduced by 10 and up to 20 miles an hour. The school zone lights flash one hour prior to the first class of school instruction and one hour after the last class of instruction has concluded. The posted speed limit on the flashing sign is the speed limit only while the lights are flashing.

State law states that vehicles traveling 11 MPH over the posted speed limit may be cited for such violation. This law only applies for violations obtained via speed camera. If a uniformed officer is checking vehicles in school zones, the officer can cite a violation for 1 MPH over the posted speed limit.

State law requires that the money collected from civil violation fines shall only be used by such governing body to fund local law enforcement or public safety initiatives.

Before a school can be considered for a speed camera, a speed study is conducted by the vendor. The results of the speed study will show the number of vehicles that pass the location during the hours the study was conducted and the number of vehicles traveling above the posted speed limit by 10 miles per hour. Once the speed study is presented to the police department, the department will compile the data along with vehicle accident information and pedestrian traffic estimations. A panel of supervising officers and the program coordinator will make the final decision on which schools would be best for the next construction of the speed cameras. If you have a suggestion for a school you suspect would benefit from a speed camera, please send your suggestions to SchoolZoneSafety@GwinnettCounty.com