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Two Lakeland Police officers enforce the 15 mile-per-hour speed limit in front of Lakeland Highlands Middle School on Thursday morning, Aug. 15, 2024. | Kimberly C. Moore, LkldNow
4-minute read
Update: The City Commission voted unanimously Monday to adopt the plan. Now city staff will draft potential ordinances to enact the recommendations.
Lakeland commissioners are considering a series of quick, high-impact actions to reduce the city’s high traffic fatality rate. But residents may not like some of them.
Installing speed detection cameras in school zones to cite anyone going more than 10 miles over the limit.
Adding eight more red light cameras at intersections with lots of angle crashes.
Reducing speed limits in neighborhoods, perhaps mimicking Jacksonville’s “20 is plenty” program.
Installing more lights at crosswalks and intersections, particularly where pedestrians tend to be after dark.
The recommendations were part of a general Vision Zero Action Plan the commission is expected to approve at its meeting on Monday. The cameras and speed limit changes would require separate votes, possibly within the next few months.
Why it matters: Lakeland has an average of 14 vehicle crashes each day. Last year, there were 4,801 crashes within the city limits resulting in 84 serious injuries and 19 deaths.
Vision Zero: Lakeland began discussing Vision Zero — a multinational program to reduce traffic deaths to zero — more than a decade ago. However, serious efforts have picked up in the past few years with several grant-funded studies.
Emphasis on school zones
City Traffic Operations Manager Tess Schwartz said school zones are a particularly high priority because 25 Polk County Public Schools students were involved in vehicle-vs-pedestrian crashes during the 2023-2024 school year, many while they were walking to school.
Thirteen of those students died, including Jaxon Crabtree, a 15-year-old Central Florida Aerospace Academy student hit by a school bus while trying to cross West Pipkin Road.
“That really hit me hard,” said Schwartz, who has a 15-year-old son.
School zone cameras: The Florida Legislature passed a bill in 2023 allowing speed detection systems in school zones, with a few requirements. Local governments have to enact an ordinance, make sure signs are visible and give a 30-day warning period before beginning enforcement.
The proposed cameras would capture two images: the first showing the vehicle driving over the speed limit and the second showing a close-up of the license plate.
A study by Verra Mobility in May 2024 found speeding in school zones was most egregious near Crystal Lake elementary and middle schools. | City of Lakeland
A study by Verra Mobility found many drivers speed through school zones when flashing lights are active. | City of Lakeland
Verra Mobility, the company that provides the city’s red light cameras, studied 13 Lakeland school zones last May. The company identified a potential of 2,992 violations per day, of which 1,350 were while flashing lights were active.
Speed detection systems in school zones can be active all day, not just during designated times in the morning and afternoon. Each violation carries a state-mandated $100 fine.
Several Central Florida cities have installed cameras in school zones including Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota, Lake Alfred, Lake Wales and Haines City.
Red light cameras: Lakeland installed its first red light cameras in 2009, and has added more in the years since. LPD Sgt. Chad Mumbauer said the program is extremely effective; 85% of the people who receive a $158 ticket do not get cited again.
The intersections proposed for new cameras are:
Memorial Boulevard at Brunell Parkway
Florida Avenue at George Jenkins Boulevard
Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue at George Jenkins Boulevard
Memorial Boulevard at North Florida Avenue
Bartow Road at New Jersey Road
Bartow Road at East Orange Street
Kathleen Road at 14th Street
Massachusetts Avenue at East Parker Street
Schwartz said those intersections have a high number of accidents where cars collide at an angle, increasing the risk of death.
The significance of speed
When a vehicle hits a pedestrian, there is a direct correlation between speed and survival.
National studies have shown that a person hit by a car traveling at 20 miles per hour has a 95% chance of surviving. But at 40 miles an hour, only 15% of pedestrians who are hit will survive. | City of Lakeland
Schwartz said one of the Vision Zero Committee’s goals for 2026 is to conduct a city-wide speed limit study, focusing on residential neighborhoods. But in the meantime, she said there are areas where Lakeland knows the speed limit is too high, particularly parts of the city that have seen a lot of development.
Lighting: For a long time, the city focused its investments on building sidewalks and trails along roadways. “But we weren’t really solving the issues with people wanting to get from one side of the street to the other,” City Planning and Transportation Manager Chuck Barmby said.
“So we’re starting to see more crosswalks. And because of the incidents of nighttime crashes, the city and the state are really focused on lighting at those locations,” he added.
See the discussion below.
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Cindy's reporting for LkldNow focuses on Lakeland city government. Previously, she was a crime reporter, City Hall reporter and chief political writer for newspapers including the Albuquerque Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She spent a year as a community engagement coordinator for the City of Lakeland before joining LkldNow in 2023. Reach her at cindy@lkldnow.com or 561-212-3429.
In reference to: “LPD Sgt. Chad Mumbauer said the program is extremely effective; 85% of the people who receive a $158 ticket do not get cited again.”
I really wish that they focused on the metric that persuaded them to install cameras in the first place. Have these devices actually reduced traffic fatalities? Distracted driving and drugs/alcohol are a real issue and a sign 2 lanes over to the right warning people of a camera doesn’t seem to address these two issues.
I’ve personally received one of these tickets. I was already stopped at the light in heavy traffic and was directly behind a tractor trailer and unfortunately couldn’t see the light. I was traveling a fraction of the speed limit and all traffic from other directions were completely stopped and would need to let the intersection clear before they proceeded.
Of course I am now extra cautious at this intersection, giving over a tractor trailer length of space so I can see the light at all times. Does this make it safer? I don’t believe so. Does it reduce my chance of receiving of a ticket, yes. 85% of people are apparently being extra cautious after the fact too. It’s possible that the other 15% are maybe being cited at a different intersection they are unfamiliar with.
I’m all for devices that, when implemented properly, increase safety, but unfortunately, safety is always the afterthought when talking about effectiveness.
At the very least, the profits from these cameras should go to a fund that pays for side walks, lighting, and infrastructure that guarantees safer roads.
My ONLY Concern is about the people who are getting Speeding tickets in a School Zone when school is not in progress, no school that day, vacation time and holidays. I have read Numerous stories about people being sent a ticket for this on days that School is CLOSED!?
I hope PCSO takes note of this info. Our suburban residential neighborhood, with a speed limit of 35 MPH, has an average speed of about 50-55. Writing some tickets could help fatten their coffers. Another problem is the abject flouting of FS316.293 in Polk County. Time for LE to regain control of the roads.
In reference to: “LPD Sgt. Chad Mumbauer said the program is extremely effective; 85% of the people who receive a $158 ticket do not get cited again.”
I really wish that they focused on the metric that persuaded them to install cameras in the first place. Have these devices actually reduced traffic fatalities? Distracted driving and drugs/alcohol are a real issue and a sign 2 lanes over to the right warning people of a camera doesn’t seem to address these two issues.
I’ve personally received one of these tickets. I was already stopped at the light in heavy traffic and was directly behind a tractor trailer and unfortunately couldn’t see the light. I was traveling a fraction of the speed limit and all traffic from other directions were completely stopped and would need to let the intersection clear before they proceeded.
Of course I am now extra cautious at this intersection, giving over a tractor trailer length of space so I can see the light at all times. Does this make it safer? I don’t believe so. Does it reduce my chance of receiving of a ticket, yes. 85% of people are apparently being extra cautious after the fact too. It’s possible that the other 15% are maybe being cited at a different intersection they are unfamiliar with.
I’m all for devices that, when implemented properly, increase safety, but unfortunately, safety is always the afterthought when talking about effectiveness.
At the very least, the profits from these cameras should go to a fund that pays for side walks, lighting, and infrastructure that guarantees safer roads.
My ONLY Concern is about the people who are getting Speeding tickets in a School Zone when school is not in progress, no school that day, vacation time and holidays. I have read Numerous stories about people being sent a ticket for this on days that School is CLOSED!?
I hope PCSO takes note of this info. Our suburban residential neighborhood, with a speed limit of 35 MPH, has an average speed of about 50-55. Writing some tickets could help fatten their coffers. Another problem is the abject flouting of FS316.293 in Polk County. Time for LE to regain control of the roads.
Its a money grab nothing else! They do not care about public safety just look for ways to take more money from the residents!
TLDR;Lakeland is quickly becoming a surveillance city. City commissioners steal from general public under guise of “safety”.