At Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin floated the possibility of holding a public forum for feedback on the school speed zone camera program, given the outpouring of complaints, misinformation and recent scam texts demanding payment.
The program was implemented last fall and started with a one month warning period for the initial school speed zones. From there, fines were $50, plus a service fee, for the first violation. The a second fine is $75, plus a service fee.
First Selectman Camillo said people had been “calling and swearing, using foul language, and threatening the Board of Selectmen in November – that doesn’t do anything. In fact, it sets you back a lot.”
“And don’t call up and tell us that your BMW 340i can’t go that slow. We don’t care,” he said.
Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said she had received a lot of feedback about the speed cameras.
“Not everyone has been mean, thankfully,” she said. “I think there is a lot of misinformation out there. I would welcome maybe scheduling a public forum or public session – whether through the Board of Selectmen or through Chief (Heavey) and the communications team within the police department.”
“There’s a lot of misinformation and there’s a lot of suspicion we well. People are conjuring up – whether it’s true or not – reasons. Why is it on a certain street – is that because it’s more fruitful to catch speeders there because there’s no children there walking to school there.”
She brought up a past incident by Central Middle School, recalling that Shiro Nogaki shared a story about a speeding car that wound up through his front door on Orchard Street.
In fact, at the series of 2024 DPW public input sessions for residents to share their concerns about pedestrian and roadway safety across town, speeding traffic was a repeat complaint.
“When we did all of our traffic studies to understand where we could put the entrance to the new Central Middle School – because the new CMS is where the field is and the field will be where the existing school is, we’ve done a ton of traffic studies, and that was one of the things to address and think about the speed on that road,” Rabin said. “I continue to encourage people to continue to give us your feedback and I’d like to have the public forum and get more correct information out and understand where we can make tweaks.”
Selectwoman Rachel Khanna said she had been alerted to a scam from a constituent who received a text saying she had an unpaid violation and to pay via a link in the text.
“Fortunately I had attended attorney general William Tong’s forum on fraud and called up Chief Heavey who confirmed that that is a scam,” she said. “If you get a fine for speeding in school areas, you’ll get a letter from the Town of Greenwich and in general, the DMV will not send text messages, so please don’t click on those links.”
Last October, Greenwich Police Dept in conjunction with the Town of Greenwich announced the launch of the automated photo speed enforcement program with a short list of schools, starting with a warning period for one month.
“We know that speed kills; statistics show a child struck by a vehicle traveling 40 MPH, only has a one in 10 chance of survival, but if you slow that down to 20 MPH, that same child has a much-improved survival rate of nine in 10,” police said at the time.
Camillo said there were plans in the works for additional school speed camera signage to add details.
The most recent schedule of speed cameras at schools is as follows, but is subject to change as cameras are moved to other schools:
Hours the ordinance is being enforced.
- Central Middle School – The camera at Indian Rock Lane enforces a 20 mph speed limit from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 2:15 to 4:15 p.m. The speed limit is at 25 mph from 8:31 a.m. to 4:14 p.m. The camera at Orchard Street will enforce a 20 mph limit from 7:30 to 8:30 and 2:15 to 4:15 and then 25 mph during the rest of the school day.
- Glenville School – The camera at Riversville Road enforces a 25 mph speed limit from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. The speed limit is 35 mph from 9:16 a.m. to 3:14 p.m.
- Parkway School – The camera at Lower Cross Road enforces a 20 mph speed limit from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. The speed limit is 30 mph from 9:16 a.m. to 3:14 p.m.
- North Street School – The camera at North Street enforces a 25 mph speed limit from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. The speed limit is 35 mph from 9:16 a.m. to 3:14 p.m.
- Brunswick Lower School – From Monday through Thursday, the camera at King Street enforces a 25 mph speed limit from 7:15 to 8:15 a.m. and 2:45 to 4 p.m. The speed limit is 35 mph from 8:46 a.m. to 2:44 p.m. This changes on Fridays, as there is a 25 mph speed limit from 7:15 to 8:45 a.m. and noon to 3:15 p.m. There is a 35 mph speed limit between 8:46 a.m. and 11:59 a.m.
- Eagle Hill School – The camera at Glenville Road enforces a 20 mph speed limit from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. The speed limit is 30 mph from 8:31 a.m. to 2:44 p.m.
- Greenwich Academy – On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, the camera at North Maple Avenue enforces a 20 mph speed limit from 7:15 to 8:15 a.m. and 2 to 4:15 p.m. The speed limit is 30 mph from 8:16 a.m. to 1:59 p.m. This changes on Wednesday, as there is a 20 mph speed limit from 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 2 to 4:15 p.m. and 30 mph from 9:16 a.m. to 1:59 p.m.
- Greenwich High School – The cameras at Hillside Road and on East Putnam Avenue enforce a 25 mph speed limit from 7 to 8:15 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. The speed limit is at 30 mph from 8:16 a.m. to 1:59 p.m.
Traffic in East Putnam Avenue at GHS dismissal time.
A petition started on March 7 against Greenwich’s school speed cameras has 710 signatures as of March 12.
The petition asks that the Board of Selectman, as the town traffic authority, halt all new citations from automated speed cameras; phase out and remove all existing installations; and redirect resources to effective, community-supported safety measures.
The petition says, “Greenwich deserves safer roads through smart, fair enforcement – not reliance on automated systems that raise more questions than answers. Sign if you want better protection for kids and pedestrians without unnecessary fines or surveillance.”
One comment on the petition from James in Cos Cob says, “I whole-heartedly support safe driving practices. However, I think the dramatic speed reduction on State Routes supports unsafe driving practices. That alone would be sufficient reason to remove traffic cameras. However, there’s more! The privacy violations through non-consensual data collection and non-transparent data protection provide legal reasoning for IMMEDIATE REMOVAL OF CAMERAS. And if that’s not enough, the lack of due process through the inability to confront the accuser (a camera) is a TEXTBOOK VIOLATION of the fourteenth amendment of a pretty important document: THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION!”
Extra Signage
On Friday morning Mr. Camillo’s community connections newsletter he writes, “We are working on adding extra signage near these cameras to alert drivers about the hours of operation and we are working to make the appeal process easier and to give people more time. There will be further information about this soon.”
File photo Credit: Leslie Yager
See also:
Greenwich Police Warn that Text Messages Claiming to Be from Dept of Motor Vehicles are Scams
March 7, 2026
What to Know about the School Speed Cameras: Expect a learning curve
Feb 24, 2026
Dec 14, 2025
Greenwich to Move Ahead with Speed Cameras in School Zones April 2025
