St. Mary’s County drivers will start seeing warning notices in the mail later this month as the Sheriff’s Office activates a new school zone speed camera program nearly three years after commissioners first began considering the idea.
Sheriff Steven Hall announced the program will begin with a 15-day warning period starting Aug. 21, during which drivers caught speeding in a school zone will receive a mailed notice marked “WARNING” with no fine attached. Full enforcement, with citations and fines, begins Sept. 7. The Sheriff’s Office is partnering with Orlando-based NovoaGlobal Inc. to operate the cameras, which will be installed at six locations for the program’s first deployment phase: Mechanicsville Elementary School on southbound Route 5; Loveville and Banneker elementary schools on northbound Route 5; Oakville Elementary School on northbound Route 235; Greenview Knolls Elementary School on northbound Route 237; Great Mills High School on eastbound Route 246; and Spring Ridge Middle School on northbound Route 235.
Under Maryland law, a vehicle must be traveling at least 12 mph over the posted speed limit to trigger a violation. Once full enforcement begins, violators will face a $40 civil fine. The cameras will operate year-round, including holidays and school breaks, Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., in line with state law governing school zone camera programs. Because the citations are civil rather than criminal, they will not add points to a driver’s license or be reported to insurance companies.
The program traces back to Ordinance 2024-02, which the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County approved to create the legal framework for school zone speed cameras within a half-mile radius of schools serving grades K-12. That ordinance followed a public hearing held in November 2023, where the Sheriff’s Office first pitched the concept to commissioners and the public. At that hearing, then-Administrative Division Commander Shawn Moses outlined the proposal, and all 10 residents who spoke voiced support for the cameras. The Sheriff’s Office had cited results from its own 2023 community survey showing that 74% of nearly 1,200 respondents said traffic issues, including speeding, negatively affected their quality of life.
Commissioners formally awarded the camera contract to NovoaGlobal in June 2025. The three-year deal, covering six cameras, cost just over $670,000, and the county also approved three new Sheriff’s Office positions to help administer the program. At the June 2025 meeting, Capt. Richard Russell of the Sheriff’s Office told commissioners the cameras were needed because high traffic volumes and competing calls for service limit how often deputies can conduct manual speed enforcement during busy school hours, calling the cameras “a tool to reduce speed, reduce accidents and save lives.”
A NovoaGlobal representative told commissioners at the same meeting that similar programs in other jurisdictions have typically produced a roughly 50% drop in violations within the first six months of operation.
County officials have said signage and flashing beacons alone haven’t been enough to slow drivers on higher-traffic corridors like Route 5 and Route 235 during school hours, prompting the shift toward automated enforcement. All potential violations will be reviewed by an authorized Sheriff’s Office employee before a notice is mailed, and registered vehicle owners will be able to review the underlying photo and video evidence online at zerofatality.com.
“We want St. Mary’s to be a community where no life is lost to speeding, especially in our school zones,” Hall said in announcing the program’s launch. “This program is a critical step toward that goal. We are committed to being transparent throughout this process and keeping our community informed as the program moves forward.”
The Sheriff’s Office said it will post regular updates on camera locations and program developments on its Facebook, X and Instagram accounts. More information, including a full list of camera locations and program details, is available at firstsheriff.com/special-operations/school-zone-speed-camera-program.
