When $50, $100 tickets will be mailed to drivers speeding outside these Richmond schools

RICHMOND, Va. -- At least four times a day, Tara Fitzpatrick finds herself having to cross Laburnum Avenue to get her two kids to Linwood Holton Elementary School

"It's really terrifying," Fitzpatrick said. "Every day my children are threatened by people and the children of this school and the children of the city."

Fitzpatrick said the source of that threat is speeding vehicles.

Lt. Harold Giles, with Richmond Police's Special Operations Division, said speed cameras have been installed outside Linwood Holton. Two other cameras have also been outside Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts for nearly a month. Police have sent more than 4,200 warnings to anyone going 11 mph over the school zone's speed limit of 25 mph.

"Average speed through here during the school session is 38 mph. That is way too fast," Giles said.

On Monday, actual tickets will start being sent: $50 for the first time and $100 thereafter. But the cameras will be active only during the two hours around pick-up and drop-off.

"To start the camera program, why not start with places where our most vulnerable people are the young people," Richmond Transportation Engineering Program Manager Andy Boenau said.

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City officials said the two schools are on what's called the city's high-injury network, adding 77% of serious injury and deadly crashes happen on nine-percent of the roads.

"Broadly speaking, Richmond has a driver behavior problem and we're not alone," Boenau said.

But they added that the cameras are just one part of a larger effort for its Vision Zero goal of no road deaths or serious injuries by 2030.

"Speed tables, road conversions, bike lanes, sidewalks, bus lanes, roundabouts, all sorts of treatments, education campaigns," Boenau said.

Parents like Jones and Fitzpatrick are supportive of the step.

Theresa Jones, the parent of a Holton student, said she thinks the cameras are a good thing.

"Because there's so many kids that travel across the street you don't want anything to happen to them," Jones said.

Parents like Jones and Fitzpatrick are supportive of the step.

Fitzpatrick, who's also the Richmond coordinator for the Safe Routes to School group, says while she doesn't want enforcement to be a big part of making streets safer -- it is part of the equation -- and one that can be implemented faster than redesigning streets.

"The cameras allow for there to be some level of enforcement on the roads without bringing the biases of traditional policing into play here," Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick added that she hopes they will help get the message out to drivers, whether around schools or in neighborhoods, to "just drive respectfully."

The four cameras are just the start of this program and the city hopes to have them installed at 11 other schools by the end of the year and can move them around as the data shows.

This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.