Police Chief Gives First Report On School Zone Speed System

by SC Publisher Shannen Hayes

Sanibel Police Chief Bill Dalton presented the City Council with a report on the school zone speed detection system on Thursday, Sept. 25, during the regular meeting.

City Council approved its installation in the school zone on Sanibel Captiva Road in November 2024. Altumint is the company that provides the system, which automatically photographs the license plates of vehicles speeding through the 20 mph school zone and generates violations.

While the system was not installed for a full school year last year, the Altumint report showed that 341 violations were issued from Oct. 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Of those issued, 283 have been paid, and 58 are pending.

Dalton explained that the pending violations could be because the drivers want to contest them, or they were never received due to a wrong address associated with the license plate.

The paid violations resulted in $17,900, with 23 percent going to the state, 12 percent to the county school district, and 5 percent to the local school crossing guard program. The remaining $10,780 went to Altumint.

Dalton said the amount going to Altumint will be less once the speed enforcement equipment is paid off, which he estimated to be by the end of this school year.

He noted that these systems have reduced speeding in school zones statewide by about 85 percent. However, it has reduced speeding by nearly 96 percent in our school zone. Dalton credited the success in part to the public education provided by the city.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know that we will do better than (96 percent),” said Dalton.

Vice Mayor Holly Smith stated that, in addition to the data presented in the report, she would like to see data on the average vehicle speed in the school zone and whether there are repeat offenders to understand the system’s impact on traffic better.

Municipalities operating one or more school zone speed detection systems are required by state law to annually report the results and have them read aloud during a regular or special meeting.