Speed cams come to Hewitt

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Nassau County has finally revealed that the Jennie E. Hewitt School will have a speed camera installed in front of it, though there was no word on when that would take place.

The cameras — which have been the focus of some intense criticism from county residents — automatically ticket anyone driving more than 10 mph above the 20 mph speed limit in school zones between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are $80, just like the red-light cameras that also dot county roads. Of that, $50 is the actual fine and $30 is an administrative fee that covers the expense of processing the ticket.

“Our goal is to make our roadways safer by reducing speeding vehicles, collisions, associated injuries and fatalities,” Judge John Marks, executive director of the Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency, said in a press release. “A child has only a 30 percent chance of surviving being struck by a car traveling 40 mph, but an 80 percent chance of surviving if the car is traveling 30 mph.”

According to the county, the locations for the cameras were chosen based on traffic studies and after discussions with school officials. But according to Dr. William Johnson, the Rockville Centre School District superintendent, the district wasn’t consulted.

“I’m not sure we would have agreed with that location,” Johnson said of the Hewitt School. “I think there’s a good possibility that the most dangerous location is probably [the Watson School] at the corner of North Center Avenue and Lakeview Avenue.”

The camera in front of Hewitt will be one of 77 installed throughout the county’s 56 school districts. Asked when the Rockville Centre camera would be installed, Marks said only, in an email to the Herald, “A mobile unit could be deployed in school zones at any time.”

A county press release cited accident statistics in support of its decision to install the cameras. In 2012, according to the county, 37 pedestrians who were struck by cars died, and 14 of those fatalities occurred within a quarter-mile of a school. “Though not everyone killed in these areas were school-age children,” the release stated, “such a high probability of pedestrian deaths occurring near schools raises concerns about potential traffic dangers for children.”

The Rockville Centre Police Department was consulted weeks ago, when the cameras were first being considered, but had no say in the final placement, Commissioner Charles Gennario told the Herald. All of the cameras are being installed on county roads.

“I’d love to be able to sit down and have a conversation with people about danger and the dangerous situations [on the roads],” Johnson said. “Why they selected [Hewitt] over other locations, I have no idea. Maybe they know something about speeding that I don’t.”