Permanent Speed Camera Program Up For Approval In Prince William County

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Prince William County has been testing out speed cameras in school zones, but county supervisors are considering giving the green light to a permanent program.

On June 3, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors will consider permanently adopting an automated camera program to enforce school zone and highway work zone violations. A public hearing will be held before the board makes a decision.

The Board of County Supervisors authorized the pilot program in April 2023 following a feasibility study on automated red light and speeding enforcement. Since then, the county has set up speed cameras in several school zone speed cameras but none in work zones. A Virginia law allows localities to use speed cameras only in highway work zones and active school zones.

Vehicles caught going more than 10 mph over the speed limit receive a $100 fine mailed to the vehicle's registered owner. Under the state law, cameras can only issue citations during active school zone times when lights are flashing — when students are arriving and being dismissed. The citation does not affect driver's license points or insurance.

Speed cameras are currently set up near Battlefield High School (James Madison Highway), Belville Middle School (Dale Boulevard), Fitzgerald Elementary School (Benita Fitzgerald Drive), Patriot High School and T. Clay Wood Elementary School (Kettlerun Road), Rippon Middle School (Blackburn Road) and Woodbridge High School and Old Bridge Elementary School (Old Bridge Road). Future cameras are planned at Benton Middle School and Cole Elementary School (Hoadly Road) and Pattie Elementary School and Washington Reid Elementary School (Dumfries Road).

"Data collected as part of the Pilot Program shows that automated enforcement of speed limits in school zones is both effective at reducing speed and increasing speed limit compliance in active school zones and an efficient method of enforcing speed limits in these school zones," reads a county staff report. "County staff are typically seeing a decrease of 3-6 mph in the eighty-fifth percentile speed in active school zones with automated photo enforcement, which is statistically significant, resulting in increased safety for all road users and pedestrians at these locations."

On June 3, the board is also considering a one-year extension of automated cameras to enforce red light violations, which localities can do under a Virginia law. The proposed extension would run through Aug. 31, 2026. A county staff report noted that the program had been delayed amid negotiations with the Virginia Department of Transportation on access to signal equipment. The county is in the process of preparing the first of eight red light camera locations. A ninth at Dumfries Road and Country Club Drive is now in the lineup, as requested by Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey.

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