High-Tech Traffic Safety Bill Clears Final Hurdle in Virginia

Virginia lawmakers delivered a last-minute compromise on a contentious safety bill — ushering in high-tech school zone cameras and speed camera guardrails — just as the General Assembly wrapped up its session. However, the measure’s future now rests with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s pending approval.

A bill could soon allow for cameras to be placed at crosswalks in Virginia. (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)

Senate Bill 1233, sponsored by Sen. Angelia Williams Graves, D-Norfolk, passed in the Democratic-controlled Senate on a 25-15 vote and in the House by 54-40. A similar House measure by Del. Holly Seibold, D-Fairfax, failed to advance in the Senate Transportation Committee, but some of the language made it into Williams Graves’ proposal.

House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, explained that just before the session concluded, an agreement was reached to merge the proposals from both chambers. This accord was struck between her and the then-Senate committee chair, Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, as part of negotiations aimed at ensuring the passage of both measures.

Under the legislation, the civil penalty for a camera violation is $100, whether a pedestrian is in the crosswalk area or not. The bill keeps cameras confined to approved areas — such as school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk intersections.

However, the proposal would permit law enforcement to install monitoring systems that record pedestrian crossings and stop sign violations within those areas, a move that has raised concerns among House lawmakers.

In addition, the legislation would require a stricter approval process for speed cameras, ban vendors from profiting off citations, guarantee due process protections, and limit the use of generated revenue solely to improvements in pedestrian safety.

Seibold noted that although she was pleased her original bill’s language made it into the Senate version, she was “disappointed” that the bill would not allow for installation of cameras in “the most dangerous” streets and intersections outlined by the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Safety Action Plan.

The map uses various diagrams and colors to show where pedestrian and bike crashes have occurred, with the most severe incidents cases are labeled “orange” and fatal cases highlighted in “red.”

“If it’s deemed a red zone by VDOT, it means people are dying there,” Seibold said, adding that plans to continue proposing legislation to expand cameras in areas following a 2022 incident in her district — where a driver struck students at an intersection near a Fairfax County School, resulting in the death of two students and injuring another.

According to Virginia State Police data, the commonwealth collected over $33 million from speed cameras in school zones and highway work zones last year.

Since the General Assembly approved the use of cameras in 2020 to reduce traffic fatalities and encourage safer driving near children and construction workers, local governments and law enforcement have come under fire for the financial windfall these cameras have generated.

“A locality’s revenue should not be dependent on its justice system and the guardrails that the substitute offers, puts in place will end financially motivated policing and provide the guardrails to ensure that safety cameras are just that to improve safety,” Delaney said on Saturday.

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