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Speed cameras are a necessity, said Ardmore Elementary School Principal Georgette Gregory.

Gregory remembers when a kindergartner at the Springdale school was struck and injured in a hit-and-run in 2008 after he ran across Ardwick-Ardmore Road to get to an ice cream truck.

"I've known in the past people to drag race up and down Ardwick-Ardmore Road because it's a straightaway," Gregory said. "It's a straightaway for speed demons."

Gregory could possibly see some relief by next spring. The Glenarden City Council passed a resolution Dec. 14 establishing school zones for a city speed camera program, one of which includes Ardmore Elementary. School zones must be within a half-mile radius of a school, according to Maryland law that went into effect Oct. 1.

The zones will also encompass Genesis Christian Day School, Glenarden Woods Elementary, Judge Sylvania W. Woods Elementary, Kenmoor Elementary and Shabach Christian Academy, all of which have a half-mile radius that crosses into Glenarden city limits.

The council also voted Dec. 14 in favor of signing a contract with Lanham-based OptoTraffic, a speed camera vendor that provides mobile speed camera units that can be moved around to different zones. The city will use one mobile camera, Police Chief Phillip O'Donnell said. The city also is exploring putting up a camera on Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, also known as Route 704. Glenarden police did a 24-hour traffic study in fall 2008 of traffic on the highway and recorded 4,800 vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 12 mph or more, O'Donnell said.

There is no cost for the camera or for installation, and the vendors are paid a percentage of the revenues generated from the citations, O'Donnell said. He did not know what the percentages were but said that was worked out with between OptoTraffic and the city attorney, Suellen Ferguson. Neither could be reached for comment on Monday.

O'Donnell said he hopes to start a 30-day warning period by early February. Drivers caught on camera during the warning period would receive only notices to slow down instead of $40 citations, which would begin the following month. He said the city would have to get a permit from the Maryland State Highway Administration to put up a camera on Route 704 because it is a state highway, which means a program may not run until as late as March.

"The application is 80 pages long," O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell said Monday the city also needs the county's permission to put cameras on roads such as Brightseat and Ardwick-Ardmore. He was going to meet with county officials on Monday but could not because of conditions from a weekend snowstorm that came through the Washington metropolitan area.

The Ardmore school zone includes Ardwick-Ardmore Road between Barcroft and Tyrol drives. Ardmore Elementary is located at 9301 Ardwick-Ardmore Road.

The Genesis Christian Day School zone includes Brightseat Road between Evarts Street and Glenarden Parkway and Glenarden Parkway between Eighth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway. The school is at 3409 Brightseat Road.

Both the Judge Sylvania W. Woods and Kenmoor school zones include Martin Luther King Jr. Highway between Barlowe Road and Johnson Avenue. Woods is located at 3000 Church St., and Kenmoor is at 3211 82nd Ave.

The Glenarden Woods school zone includes Martin Luther King Jr. Highway between Glenarden Parkway and Dellwood Court, and Glenarden Parkway between its intersection with Martin Luther King Jr. Highway and Dellwood Avenue. Glenarden Woods is at 7801 Glenarden Parkway.

The Shabach Christian Academy zone is within the portions of Brightseat Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway within the Glenarden city limits. The school is located at 3600 Brightseat Road.

All five zones include any roads within the city limits that O'Donnell determines fall under the half-mile radii.

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.