BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The grace period for school zone speed cameras in Buffalo ends on Monday, March 1st. Up until now, drivers were issued a warning for speeding. Now, if you’re clocked going above 26 miles per hour, you’ll get a $50 ticket.
The school zone speed camera program was reactivated on February 1st in the following locations
- Discovery School, 911 Abbott Rd.
- Dr. Blackman, PS 54, 2358 Main St.
- Eve School, 453 Leroy Ave.
- Grabiarz School/West Hertel, 489 Hertel Ave.
- Olmsted School, 319 Suffolk St.
- Houghton Academy, 1725 Clinton St.
- Hutch Tech/ Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, 256 Elmwood Ave. / 315 Carolina St.
- Makowski School, 1095 Jefferson Ave.
- McKinley School, 1500 Elmwood Ave.
- Porter School/ DaVinci School, 255 Porter Ave. / 320 Porter Ave.
- Bennett Park Montessori, 342 Clinton St.
- Performing Arts, 450 Masten Ave.
- Academy Middle, 425 South Park
- Lewis J. Bennett School, 2885 Main St.
- Harvey Austin School, 1405 Sycamore St.
The city says there will also be the same education and warning period in place for the five cameras that were reactivated in the fall to keep the program aligned across the city and avoid confusion.
- Canisius High School, 1180 Delaware
- Nichols School, 1250 Amherst Street
- Notre Dame Academy, 1125 Abbott Road
- St. Joseph University School, 3275 Main Street
- Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Children’s Academy, 3149 Bailey Avenue
The city has been collecting data during the warning period.
"People are changing their culture in the school zone safety camera program areas, I think they're going to continue to change that culture," said Kevin Helfer, City Parking Violations Commissioner.
These cameras aim to keep students safe and improve traffic in the city, according to Mayor Byron Brown. But one Buffalo Common Council member says it's turned into a whole different animal.
One that’s costing people money when they’re already struggling.Urban planner Peter Rizzo looked into the cameras last month and found the city is disproportionately targeting high-poverty, minority neighborhoods.
He suggests the city needs to drop the program. Common Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt says people in his district were struggling financially because of these cameras and they’ll start struggling again once they’re back on.
“I think it’s gonna get worse, we didn’t fix the problem, we just put a band-aid over it. This is something we just gotta get rid of and move forward and look at less punitive measures and I think speed humps, crosswalks and those type of things are the right way to go," said Wyatt.
Wyatt says he’s worried that if things don’t change with this program, the public will completely lose trust in the city. He’s meeting with groups this week to look into different ways to keep children safe and keep money in pockets at the same time.
The City of Buffalo created an interactive map to help you find each location more easily. You can access that map here.
Anyone who speeds will be issued a $50 fine.
