Florida's 2023 school zone camera law lets local governments mail a $100 ticket to anyone exceeding a school zone limit by more than 10 mph, but only around the school day. Miami-Dade County commissioners adopted it 10-3 and switched on the first RedSpeed cameras on 4 November 2024 after a 30-day warning period, covering 206 school zones — all in unincorporated areas outside city limits, so the City of Miami itself is not enforced. The statute divides each fine five ways yet says nothing about paying the vendor: RedSpeed keeps 30-33% of what the county retains, a projected $71M against the county's $144M over six years. By early 2026 the cameras had produced 236,573 citations and nearly 34,000 licence suspensions, with no published measurement of speed or crash effects.
236,573 citations from the November 2024 start to mid-2025, from more than 120 cameras; roughly $17M in fine revenue over the eight months to summer 2025, at least $2M a month. Nearly 34,000 driver licence suspensions for non-payment by March 2026 (county clerk of courts data). School zone cameras accounted for nearly 70% of all speeding tickets in Miami-Dade County by May 2026. No official or independent evaluation of speed or crash outcomes has been published.
🎓 Lesson
Florida capped the fine, the speed threshold and the hours, but left vendor pay unregulated — so the contract rather than the statute decides how much of a $100 school zone ticket becomes a private company's revenue.
Evidence🏛️ Official
Scale🗺️ Regional
Cost≈$71M projected to the vendor over six years; no county capital outlay
FundingSelf-funded from $100 citations; RedSpeed keeps 30-33% of the county's retained share
Sources
↗ Florida Statutes s. 316.1896 (2023)The five-way split of the $100 penalty: '$20 must be remitted to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the General Revenue Fund', '$60 must be retained by the county or municipality and must be used to administer speed detection systems in school zones and other public safety initiatives', '$3 must be remitted to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the Department of Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Standards and Training Trust Fund', '$12 must be remitted to the county school district... for school security initiatives, for student transportation, or to improve the safety of student walking conditions', '$5 must be retained by the county or municipality for the School Crossing Guard Recruitment and Retention Program'. The statute contains no provision on how a system manufacturer or vendor may be compensated — no per-citation or revenue-share restriction.
↗ Florida Senate — HB 657 (2023) bill recordCS/CS/HB 657, Enforcement of School Zone Speed Limits: approved by the Governor 31 May 2023, effective 1 July 2023. Authorises speed detection systems for violations 'in excess of 10 miles per hour over the applicable speed limit' when children are going to or from school and during the school day.
↗ Miami-Dade County — Red Speed Initiative (operator page)Operator statement of the rules: 'The vehicle must exceed the posted speed limit by more than ten (10) mph', enforced 'Within 30 minutes before through 30 minutes after the start of a regularly scheduled breakfast program... the start of a regularly scheduled school session; During the entirety of a regularly scheduled school session... the end of a regularly scheduled school session.' Also: 'The photo enforcement system is entirely funded by paid violations.' Run by the Department of Transportation and Public Works for unincorporated Miami-Dade.
↗ NBC Miami — Miami-Dade passes school zone speed camera plan'The measure was approved with a 10-3 vote by commissioners'; 'Some 206 school zones have been identified and they are all in the unincorporated area of Miami-Dade'; 'RedSpeed USA will be providing the equipment. The contract is for a total of six years but after each year the county can choose to not renew it without any penalties to the county.' First cameras operational 4 November 2024, with warnings only for the first 30 days.
↗ Miami Herald — When speed cameras come to Miami-Dade schools, county expects tickets to flyThe vendor-payment fact, sentence-level: 'RedSpeed would collect between 30% and 33% of the money Miami-Dade retains from the camera fines' and 'Miami-Dade would collect about $144 million over the six-year deal and RedSpeed would collect $71 million.' Also 'RedSpeed would install the cameras in 206 schools in Miami-Dade located outside city limits', forecast at 'about 600,000 citations each year'. Commissioner Raquel Regalado cast the only No vote in policy committee. Syndicated copy used because the Herald original is paywalled.
↗ Miami Herald — Miami-Dade school zone cameras issued more than 236,000 tickets in less than a year'236,573 tickets' since the November 2024 start; RedSpeed operates 'more than 120 cameras' in unincorporated Miami-Dade generating about '$17 million in fine revenue over an eight-month period' to summer 2025, 'at least $2 million a month'. Confirms individual cities including Miami Gardens run separate systems (20 cameras, 'more than 80,000 violations in four months').
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Miami-Dade School Zone Speed Cameras” — Miami, United States. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/miami-dade-school-zone-speed-cameras/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.
The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.
