John Coffelt, Editor

Manchester Police Department recommended to the Safety Committee during the April 13 meeting that the city install automated speed control devices that would ticket speeders in school zones.

Chief Adam Floied said the radar devices register the license plate and speed of offenders in school zones during school hours.

The vender would then send a $50 ticket to the driver. The devices allow for 10 MPH over the speed before issuing tickets. Manchester Court personnel would vet all tickets issued. The company that issues the ticket would retain half of the fine. The city would not incur any additional fees from the company for the service.   

“(Speeding in school zones) is a problem and I don’t have enough officers to cover all the school zones every day. This is just another means of enforcement,” Floied said.

“I want to be very clear, I am not a revenue generator. This is not to me about generating any revenue. This is an enforcement tool for school zones and that’s it,” he said.

Currently, the maximum speeding ticket that Manchester Police Department can issue is $207. Only $50 of that is a fine and the remainder is court costs, according to Assistant Chief Dale Robertson.

Floied said that, if approved, the city would select the locations for the devices and the times that they would operate.      

He presented automated radar monitoring device data collected over five days shows that the McMinnville Highway College Street School Zone had 41,000 vehicles pass through over five days during school zone times. Of those 41,000 cars and trucks that passed through the zone, 5,260 were driving over the posted limit.

The Safety Committee will discuss the matter further during the May meeting.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.