Photo safety camera at 5200 block of Yorktown Blvd. near Yorktown High School. Photo by Shirley Ruhe.
Flashing beacons around Arlington school zones signal safety cameras are recording your speed, and tickets will be issued for speeding. A new PhotoSPEED program was initiated by the Arlington County Police Department in August 2024 with the installation of speed cameras at 10 locations around school zones.
In late January 2025 eight additional cameras were installed at the following locations:
NB 700 block of N. George Mason Drive
NB 1600 block of N. Glebe Road
WB 4100 block of Lorcom Lane
SB 2500 block of S. Arlington Ridge Road
EB 5800 block of Williamsburg Blvd.
SB 100- block of N. McKinley Road
EB 3500 block of 2nd Street S.
NB 1600 block of N. Veitch Street
“This is a tool to modify behaviors and to deter speeding as well as increase transportation safety,” ACPD Chief Andy Penn says. The Virginia legislature enacted legislation in 2020 allowing localities to install speed cameras at schools and construction zones. Penn says he has the funding to pay for 18 speed cameras. Currently cameras are installed in the vicinity of 17 public schools. Penn says he doesn’t know what the budget will provide for next year.
There are a lot of different data that can be used to show effectiveness of the program including reduction in traffic accidents. Or comparing a reduction in the number of tickets issued over a comparable time period. “This is early on in monitoring data. Once we have enough to be analyzed, we’ll know the impact.” He says a study by DOT in 2020 cited that speed cameras could reduce crashes by 50 percent.
Penn says the specific sites were chosen after a process of evaluation. “Our staff worked to identify potential sites considering whether it was a location to install the camera and whether there was good visibility in certain areas to capture the beacon.” He says sometimes there were structural challenges. Penn explains the cameras are only active during school arrival and dismissal when the beacon is flashing.
Penn provided the breakdown of the locations where 13,627 tickets have been issued between Sept. 26-Dec. 23, 2024.