'There’s no point in fighting!' Drivers who appeal school speed zone camera fines almost guaranteed to lose

Inside the fight to challenge a school speed zone violation

Inside an appeals hearing in Hillsborough County last month, our cameras captured driver after driver trying to make their case over why they did not deserve a $100 violation for speeding in a school zone.

“The sign was not flashing and there were no times,” one frustrated driver told the county magistrate.

“There were no yellow flashing signs,” said another driver.

All these drivers who tried to contest their citations were caught on camera speeding in a school zone after a 2023 law gave Florida counties and cities the green light to equip school zones with speed cameras.

The intent of the cameras is to protect students.

But the problem is, some drivers say they are being unfairly fined. In fact, the cameras have already been suspended in Manatee County and the City of Palm Bay over concerns drivers were being unfairly cited.

Last month, we shared the stories of drivers getting cited when signs directing them to slow down "when flashing" weren’t flashing. Then we discovered the new law doesn’t say they have to if there’s a sign nearby warning drivers it’s a school zone.

Joe Weaver of Hillsborough County was surprised when a $100 violation arrived in the mail.

“I got a raw deal,” he told us after a school speed zone camera caught him going 38 mph when he thought the speed limit was 40mph because the school speed zone sign wasn’t flashing when he was driving past an elementary school near his home. In fact, despite the sign stating, "20 mph when flashing," the sign isn’t even equipped with a flashing beacon.

As a result, Weaver believes the cameras have become an easy money grab for counties and cities using a vaguely written law to cash in on drivers.

“One shouldn't have to guess or be baffled by what's right and what's wrong,” he told Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone back in July.

In other cases, drivers are confused over school speed zone signs that can state up to four different start and stop times in small print for drivers to read while they're traveling through a school zone.

“I felt like it was an entrapment,” said Juan Calderon, who was also cited in Hillsborough County when he was caught going above the school zone limit in a school zone with four different start and stop times.

“This is a kangaroo thing here!”

But according to the state’s new law, the signage requirements for school speed zones only require signs to designate when the school zone is in effect. So even if a school speed zone sign states that drivers must slow down “when [the light is] flashing,” that light doesn’t have to actually be flashing for a driver to get cited.

“It’s a bit confusing, but that’s the way the law stands. It can be one or other, it doesn’t have to be both,” explained Hillsborough County Magistrate Dr. Tom Santarlas, the local magistrate in Hillsborough County hearing who presides over school speed zone camera appeals.

Santarlas has been vocal in his hearings about his dislike of the law and its confusing language. On multiple occasions, he has openly complained about the law being unclear and unfair when signs say one thing, but the law says another.

“I don’t like this law,” he said on multiple occasions during an appeals hearing in June.

“There are times when the legislature falls short of its goal when enacting law. This is one of those times,” he said at the start of the appeals hearings in July. At the time, he told drivers that as long as there was a sign in the school zone indicating when drivers needed to slow down, his hands were “handcuffed” by the law, and he would have to uphold their violations even if the flashing beacon wasn’t flashing.

Drivers showed their frustrations with many calling out the law’s unfairness. One called it “a kangaroo thing here,” implying the law is a joke.

Drivers charged to challenge fine and then lose on appeal. “There’s no point in fighting.”

Karen Nowman was among the drivers who tried to appeal her citation. She was fined after a camera captured her going 33 miles per hour through a school zone while picking up her son from the school. Bowman paid an extra $75 for the chance just to make her case.

In Hillsborough County, drivers who choose to appeal their citation are charged the extra fees to cover court costs.

When asked why she chose to appeal her violation, Bowman said, “I felt like it was unreasonable that I would get a violation from a camera when the light was not flashing."

In Bowman’s case, while there is a sign directing drivers to go 20 miles per hour “when flashing,” Bowman, who’s a mom and a teacher, said at the time she drove through the school zone, students were gone, and the sign wasn’t flashing.

Still, Bowman quickly realized she was fighting a losing battle after Magistrate Santarlas explained how the law, essentially, allows drivers to get fined even if the sign isn’t flashing.

“When he said, it doesn't matter if it was flashing or not. I was like, well, there's no point in even trying to fight for the case,” she said.

Karen ended up losing her appeal. Most drivers do.

Violations and dismissals by the numbers

In fact, new data we obtained shows that a few Florida drivers who’ve challenged one of these school zone camera fines have gotten their citation dismissed.

In Hillsborough County, of nearly 4,400 violations issued since January, just 46 have been contested.

As of July 24, not a single contested violation had been dismissed according to RedSpeed, which operates the cameras in Hillsborough County.

RedSpeed is also the largest school speed zone camera vendor in Florida, with school speed zone cameras in 35 jurisdictions around the state.

Across Florida, RedSpeed has issued nearly half a million violations since the fall.

Of those, about 3,000 were challenged, and less than 300 have been dismissed

“I think that actually speaks to the effectiveness of the program,” said David De La Espriella, a former assistant police chief in Miami Beach who now works as a client relations director for RedSpeed.

De La Espriella appeared in person in Hillsborough County for the appeals hearing last month.

He answered the magistrates’ questions about signage requirements as more than half a dozen drivers tried to challenge their fines but lost to a law, many of them said, that makes it impossible for them to win.

“I’m sympathetic with the ‘I didn't understand the signage in the school zone.’ I'm sympathetic to that, but we have to implement and install in compliance with whatever [the Florida Department of Transportation] and the state tell us,” De La Espriella said.

When asked if he believes the law, as it's written right now, is fair to drivers, he responded, “I think it's an excellent law.”

School speed zone fines generating millions in revenue

It’s also a very profitable law.

In less than one year, RedSpeed violations in Florida have generated nearly $32 million in paid fines, according to data provided to us by RedSpeed.

RedSpeed has collected about $6.7 million, or just over 20% of the total revenue generated from paid fines.

According to state law, all the money collected by local governments through paid fines can only be used for public safety initiatives like crossing guards and police training.

Last month, we spoke with FL Representative Susan Valdes of Hillsborough County. Valdes co-sponsored the law that makes school speed zone cameras legal. As a result of our findings, Valdes is now looking into the possibility of introducing a revised law next session that clarifies signage requirements, including signs with a flashing beacon.

“It just feels like a gotcha moment.”

De La Espriella refutes any notion that the violations are an easy cash grab.

“It’s violator-funded. If you don't want to pay $100, it is a very simple hack—don't speed in school zones and you won't get a citation,” he said.

But that’s the problem, when drivers who thought they weren’t speeding got fined for speeding and then lost when they tried to challenge it.

“I’ve gone on Facebook and posted and said, 'Don't fight these tickets because you're not going to win,'” said Bowman. “It just feels like a gotcha moment, like a money grab, a little bit more than just concern for child safety."