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With back-to-school season in full swing, Montgomery County Police are using the start of classes to slow county drivers.

The department will rotate 12 speed cameras at 24 new locations in and around school zones across the county this fall. These sites will be monitored with six Safe Speed vans that are equipped with the camera technology, or by six portable cameras.

One additional location, the 12200 block of New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring, near White Oak Middle School, will have ticketing cameras installed on fixed poles.

"Increasing safety is a team effort and participation by all parts of our community, especially by pedestrians and individual drivers, is a must," County Executive Isiah Leggett said last week. "Together, we will make a significant difference in providing safety for our children."

Of the 25 new locations, 11 are not in established school zones.

Capt. Thomas Didone, Director of the Traffic Division, said police have been monitoring speed on New Hampshire Avenue in front of White Oak Middle School. In one week, 36,000 drivers were clocked going 12 mph faster than the 40 mph speed limit. More than 9,000 of those cars were traveling between 56 mph and 60 mph, and 6,000 were speeding at 61 mph or faster.

Didone addressed a notion touted by websites like www.stopbigbrothermd.org that speed cameras are primarily used to make money for police agencies.

"Programs of this nature have received criticism of being revenue generators, but the reality of the situation is that they are about safety," Didone said. "This is not a program where we want to catch you. We want you to know that we're out here. If people slow down and comply, then there won't be revenue. That's our ultimate goal: safety, safety, safety."

Police also announced they would step up enforcement around school zones for the first month of school, focusing on drivers who do not stop for school buses, run red lights or ignore other pedestrian and traffic safety laws.

Ron Little of the Laytonsville Elementary School PTA said he supports the new cameras in front of the 472-student school.

"If we're going to place speed cameras anywhere, the first and obvious location should be around our elementary schools," Little said. "If people take the time to consider what we're trying to protect, then the value isn't calculable. It's our children."

Police plan to rotate 12 camera systems through the 24 new locations.

"Photo enforced" signs were installed in front of Laytonsville Elementary before the first day of school, but cameras were not apparent.

Police stationed four cameras in the new school zones on the first day of school. The locations were: the 1800 (westbound) and 1900 (eastbound) block of Randolph Road in front of JFK High School in Silver Spring and the 9100 block of Cedar Lane in front of Bethesda's Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart.

The speed cameras issue $40 tickets and no points are recorded on a driver's license.

If caught by a patrol officer, drivers speeding in a school zone incur a fine up to $1,000 and five points. Passing a school bus with flashing red lights carries a fine of $570 and three points.

The new speed cameras started ticketing Monday, the first day of school for nearly 142,000 Montgomery County Public Schools students.

dgaines@gazette.net

Correction: Capt. Thomas Didone is Director of the Traffic Division