Speed Cameras in Georgia: Fines, Citation Rules, and Defenses

Speed cameras in Georgia are legal only inside school zones, and a ticket from one is a civil penalty, not a traffic conviction. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-14-18, the camera can only cite you if you’re going more than 10 mph over the posted school zone limit during school hours (plus a one-hour buffer before and after). The fine is $75 for a first offense and $125 for any repeat, with up to a $25 processing fee on top. No points go on your license, and your insurance company isn’t notified.¹

Where and When the Cameras Can Ticket You

Automated speed enforcement in Georgia is confined to school zones. You won’t find these cameras on highways, in neighborhoods, or in work zones. Each school zone with a camera has to have a permit from the Georgia Department of Transportation before any citations can issue.¹

The timing restriction is just as narrow. The camera can only generate a citation on a school day, during the window that starts one hour before classes begin and ends one hour after dismissal, including the full instructional day in between. Weekends, holidays, summer break, and other non-class days are off limits. A citation issued outside that window is invalid.¹

Even in that window, the camera won’t trigger unless you’re more than 10 mph over the posted school zone speed. In a 25 mph school zone, that means 36 mph or higher before you get a ticket.¹

What the Fine Costs, and What It Doesn’t Do

The penalties are set by statute:

First violation: $75
Second or any subsequent violation: $125
Processing fee: up to $25 per citation

The maximum you’d pay for a single repeat-offense citation is $150. Because the violation is civil rather than criminal, it does not add points to your Georgia driver’s license, it is not reported to the Department of Driver Services, and your insurance company is not notified. The penalty attaches to the vehicle’s registration, not to your driving record.¹

What the Citation Must Contain

Before any ticket goes out, a certified peace officer with the local law enforcement agency has to review the camera’s images and sign a sworn certificate confirming the vehicle was speeding in the school zone. The citation is then mailed first-class to the registered owner. The agency has 30 days from obtaining the owner’s name and address to send it, and no more than 60 days from the violation itself.¹

The notice has to include:

The date, time, location, the recorded speed, and the posted school zone limit
A photographic image from the camera showing the vehicle
A website where you can view additional images and a duplicate of the citation
The sworn certificate from the certified peace officer
Instructions for requesting an administrative hearing
A statement that failing to pay or contest in time waives your right to challenge the citation

Pay attention to the deadline printed on the citation. Missing it carries consequences well beyond the fine.¹

How to Fight a Speed Camera Ticket

Your citation will tell you how to request an administrative hearing. At that hearing, the standard is preponderance of the evidence: the government has to show it’s more likely than not that the violation occurred. The photographic evidence combined with your status as the registered owner is enough for the hearing officer to presume you were the driver, but you can rebut that presumption two specific ways under the statute:

Testify under oath, or submit a sworn, notarized statement, that you were not driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged violation.
Produce a certified copy of a police report showing the vehicle had been reported stolen before the violation occurred.

You can also challenge the citation on procedural grounds. If the camera was operating outside its authorized hours, if the notice was mailed late, if any of the required information is missing, or if the equipment itself wasn’t functioning properly, those are grounds for dismissal.¹

Signage Defects

Georgia law requires specific warning signs before any camera-enforced school zone. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-14-6, the law enforcement agency has to post signs warning drivers that a stationary speed detection device is ahead. Those signs must be:

At least 24 by 30 inches
Visible from every lane of traffic
Viewable in all traffic conditions
Positioned so no other vehicle on the road can block the view

The camera warning sign has to be placed within 500 feet before the sign announcing the reduced school zone speed limit.² If the sign was missing, obscured, or out of spec on the day of your alleged violation, the citation is vulnerable to challenge.

Act within the deadline on your citation. If you don’t pay and don’t contest in time, you lose the right to challenge the ticket at all.

What Happens If You Ignore the Ticket

The statute lays out a step-by-step escalation when a citation goes unpaid:

Second notice. If you don’t pay or contest within the deadline on the first notice (set by the local agency between 30 and 60 days from mailing), a second notice is mailed by first-class mail. It repeats all the original information and gives you a new deadline at least 30 days out.
Loss of your right to contest. Miss the second deadline and you permanently waive the right to challenge the violation. The penalty stands.
Final notice. The agency sends a final notice warning that the case will be referred to the Georgia Department of Revenue if you don’t pay within 30 days.
Registration hold. Once that 30-day window closes, the agency refers the matter to the Department of Revenue, which flags your vehicle in the motor vehicle database. You won’t be able to renew the registration until the penalty is paid.

The unpaid penalty can also be sent to a collections agency. No arrest warrant will issue, since the violation is civil, but a flagged registration is enough of a problem on its own: driving on expired tags because the renewal is blocked is a separate violation, and it brings the unpaid ticket back into play every time you’re stopped.¹