Drivers sped more on Chattanooga streets after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to officials from the police department and the city, which responded with speed limit reductions on eight city streets approved by the City Council at the end of March.
Among the areas with reduced speed limits is the portion of Hixson Pike that includes the S curves – and the city’s only fixed speed enforcement camera – leading to renewed questions on whether citations issued by the private company that operates the camera are legally enforceable.
Although citations that come in the mail requesting a $50 fee be paid at zerofatality.com may seem sketchy, they are likely the real deal.
The state Legislature passed a bill in 2015 that banned unstaffed speed cameras – except for cameras located in school zones and on S curves.
Chattanooga Department of Transportation Administrator Blythe Bailey said the high number of crashes on that stretch of road are what helped the city lobby for its exclusion from the ban.