Lakewood council members propose speed cameras in school zones

A school speed limit sign with flashing lights on a pole beside a street, with cars stopped at a traffic light in the distance — A school-zone speed limit sign in Lakewood. Image: Google Street View

Lakewood would put speed cameras in its school zones under an ordinance introduced Monday, November 2, by City Council Vice President Kyle Baker, President Sarah Kepple and Councilmember Matt Bixenstine. A second ordinance would send the fines into a new Safe Routes to School Fund.

The Lakewood Provisional Post read both ordinances and watched the meeting.

Owners of cars recorded going 6 to 9 mph over the school-zone limit would be fined $100, and $200 at 10 mph or more. The tickets would be civil, with no points on a license. A police officer would review each image, and owners could contest tickets in Lakewood Municipal Court.

The fund could be spent only on school safety, including crossing guards and street improvements. Ohio cuts a city’s state funding by what its cameras collect, but returns the school-zone share for school safety.

SOURCE · portal.laserfiche.com · Checked November 3Ordinances 31-2026 and 32-2026 (November 2 council docket, pages 11-23)

The sponsors point to counts the city presented to council’s Public Safety Committee in January 2023. In December 2022, up to 89% of drivers in the Lincoln Elementary school zone and 59% in the Emerson Elementary zone were over the limit between 8 and 9 a.m.

The ordinances came the same night as a citizens’ petition on children’s walking routes, as many students prepare to switch elementary schools in 2027-28.

Council sent both ordinances to its Committee of the Whole. Councilmember Tom Bullock said he is “always a little gun shy about cameras” but called the proposal timely, and said the fund should add to the city’s safety spending rather than replace it.

Baker said the ordinance only gives the public safety director the authority to put cameras up, and that council could fund the new account without them. “If the members of this community vote me out of office because they want the right to speed in school zones while five and six year olds are walking to school, then I guess I’m not fit for public service,” he said.

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WRITTEN BYCory RobertsA Lakewood resident since graduating from Case Western University in 2012.15 articlesView profile →