RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia is among the first states in the country to allow automated enforcement at stop signs and crosswalks after Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed SB84 into law in April.
The law allows cameras using artificial intelligence to issue citations for flagrant stop sign and crosswalk violations, particularly in school and work zones.
Obvio, the company behind the technology, said there will be a warning period before citations begin.
The program is considered fully violator-funded, meaning citation revenue pays for the cameras. Any extra revenue must be used for traffic safety, according to the legislation.
"The goal is to make this as easy as possible for municipalities to move forward without having to find pockets and pockets of money to pay for this," Dhruv Maheshwari, Obvio's co-founder and president, said.
Data from Drive Smart VA showed nearly 140 pedestrians were killed on Virginia roads.
A recent study looked at 24 intersections across the state and found about two out of three drivers are not stopping at stop signs.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Angelia Williams Graves (D-Norfolk), said the legislation includes language ensuring citations would be null and void if localities do not implement public awareness campaigns about the cameras.
"These people are just not even stopping. They're not rolling. They are just blowing the stop sign completely," Williams Graves said. "I think we built in really good safeguards in the bill. But if people would slow down, if they would actually stop, we wouldn't need any of this."
The system also allows for traffic enforcement without the need for roadside encounters with officers.
Maheshwari met with me at West Main Street and Davis Street in Richmond's Fan District, where a traffic study showed three out of every five drivers refused to yield for pedestrians.
"It's not about putting cameras up everywhere. It's not about surveillance systems. It's about focusing on the specific places where you're going to have kids running across the stop signs, you're going to have places where you want parents to feel safe," Maheshwari said.
Police in Prince George's County credited Obvio for a significant reduction in traffic violations in just two months.
In Maryland, Obvio said violations dropped nearly 70 percent in four months after the technology was installed.
Critics nationwide have raised warnings about the use of automated license plate readers and other AI surveillance systems, including Flock Safety cameras, and the potential for abuse.
Maheshwari said Obvio stands out because its technology is focused on privacy.
"Everything is happening on the device itself. It's not 24/7 footage being uploaded to the cloud. It's focused on crosswalk violations, stop sign violations, and limited to those hours of operations as well," he said.
He said the AI also blurs the faces of anyone not involved in the traffic citation.
Lawmakers in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Delaware are also looking into implementing similar legislation.
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