The Lee County Board of Supervisors agreed to purchase cameras to monitor major roadways and enforce the speed limits.
The county is hiring Massachusetts-based contractor Sitestream to install the equipment and signage and monitor traffic.
Their five-year contract also requires the company to mail citations after the Lee County Sheriff’s Department reviews the video footage.
Board chairperson Garry Seyb said the county has seen several accidents along its highways and has been looking for a better way to enforce speed limits.
“We've had some pretty catastrophic accidents at specific intersections,” Seyb said. “So we're looking at areas that we believe will have a safety impact by slowing the traffic down. One of those mechanisms is utilizing the speed cameras.”
Seyb said the sheriff’s department conducted studies along the county’s most traveled roadways and found many instances of drivers exceeding the speed limit.
One study was done along Highway 27, which connects to Highway 218 and leads to Mt. Pleasant in the north and onto Highway 61 into Missouri in the south.
Of 6,000 drivers using the highway, 52% were speeding, and almost 20% of them were driving more than 20 miles over the speed limit.
Seyb also said the county has found chronic speeding along Highway 218 near Donnellson, Franklin, and West Point. The county also recorded frequent speeding along Highway 27 near St. Francisville. Seyb said a recent accident there involved a driver who exceeded the speed limit at a construction zone.
Seyb said citations will be issued to those who are recorded exceeding the speed limit by 12 miles an hour or more.
“These are 65 mile-an-hour roads,” he said. “So for the for the ticket to be issued, the speed camera is going to have to clock you at 77 miles an hour or higher.”
Those drivers who are clocked at 28 mph above the speed limit could face a maximum $250 fine.
Those who are caught speeding within a construction area will be fined $500.
The county will pay Sitestream 20% from the total revenue collected.
“There is literally no cost to the county in performing this function,” Seyb said. “And in doing this, the contractor provides the equipment, provides the maintenance, provides the ticket and the mailing of the ticket, forwards it to the Sheriff's Department, which must review the footage and certify that, yes, indeed, the speeding took place. And once they've confirmed that, it goes to the company, and then the company that does that process.”
The rest of the ticket revenue will be held in a separate interest-bearing account. In the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, the county will distribute some the revenue among various departments:
- 5% will go the Sheriff’s Department for reviewing footage recorded from the new cameras
- The Lee County Attorney’s Office, Auditor’s Office, EMS, Crime Stoppers and the Lee County canine unit will each receive 1%
- Another 1% will be used to maintain signage along the roadways where the cameras will be placed
- 25% of it will be kept in a reserve fund for the county. The reserve funding can only be used if a super majority of the board votes in favor of it.
The county has also agreed to use some of this revenue to cover student drivers’ education expenses. Seyb said those eligible are any parent who lives in the county, pays for driver education out-of-pocket, and their child successfully completes the course.
The remaining revenue will be allocated among organizations within the county
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