Speed-zone cameras outside Miami-Dade schools are generating over $2 million a month

Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald on Jan 21, 2026

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MIAMI — The privately run speed cameras stationed around about two dozen Miami-Dade school zones churned out roughly $17 million worth of tickets in eight months, according to a new memo.

Cameras operated by RedSpeed, a Chicago-based company, produced roughly 252,000 citations for drivers found to be moving at least 10 mph above the lower speed limits in effect on school days. Each citation carries a fine of $100.

Those tickets are unrelated to the citations generated by a separate set of cameras installed on school buses to flag any drivers who ignore state laws against driving past a school bus during a stop. Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz suspended that program last year after a joint investigation by the Miami Herald and the Tributary found that some tickets were going to vehicles on the other side of a fixed median, where stopping for a bus isn’t required.

But school-zone cameras remain in good standing with Miami-Dade officials, and few drivers are having success in fighting them. The recent memo from County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that of the 252,873 citations issued from December 2024 through July 2025, only 531 were tossed when drivers appealed them.

In 2024, RedSpeed won a county deal to install the cameras under a revenue-sharing system authorized by Florida law. The program started in December 2024, and the Levine Cava memo lays out the dollars that were generated over the first eight months.

Out of the $17 million produced by ticket revenue, roughly $6.5 million has gone toward funding the Sheriff’s Office and public safety initiatives sponsored by county commissioners. Nearly $3 million went to school expenses, including for crossing guards. Florida got $4 million, and RedSpeed, about $3.6 million.

So far, the cameras aren’t generating as much money as Miami-Dade expects them to once RedSpeed further builds out its network of speed-detection devices across the county. While the memo covering the program’s first eight months listed 70 camera systems in more than two dozen zones, the most recent inventory of cameras shows 122 camera locations.

The current county budget has $26 million extra for commissioners to spend in their districts on safety programs that depend on the cameras hitting their revenue targets. The money is allocated based on the number of speed cameras in each commission district.

Though revenues are expected to pick up as RedSpeed installs more cameras, the prospect of those citation dollars falling short has some commissioners raising concerns.

“People are being tagged with these bills,” Commissioner Keon Hardemon said at Wednesday’s County Commission meeting. But if the revenue projections fall short, there won’t be sufficient camera dollars “to reinvest in their neighborhoods.”

The number of tickets issued through the first half of 2025 should have generated an additional $8 million, but about 82,000 tickets have gone unpaid, according to the memo. An unpaid camera citation brings higher fees and the potential for more penalties under Florida law.

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