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Fort Myers city council skeptical of speeding camera vendor after presentation errors

The same vendor which installed school zone speeding cameras in Cape Coral is now proposing their cameras in Fort Myers.
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FORT MYERS, Fla. — A vendor's presentation to sell automated speed detection cameras to Fort Myers City Council faced significant pushback after council members discovered every street name in their study was incorrect.

Watch as Fort Myers Community Correspondent Anvar Ruziev explains the errors:

Fort Myers city council skeptical of speed camera vendor after presentation errors

RedSpeed, the company behind the proposal says its cameras ticket drivers going more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit and claims some cities using their system have seen speeding drop by over 90%.

RedSpeed has faced scrutiny before, including by their own admission issuing 84 incorrect tickets in Cape Coral, which they have since fixed.

"They've had issues with the violations in Cape Coral, and then they come to us to make a presentation that had 100% of the street names wrong, they do not exist in the city, so I think there's a tendency to be on the sloppy side, and I don't need to be answering questions on their behalf," said Fred Burson, Fort Myers City Council Ward 5.

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Fred Burson, Fort Myers City Council Ward 5

During Monday's presentation, council members noted that streets like "Northeast 33rd Street" listed in the study don't even exist in Fort Myers.

RedSpeed told council the study was put together by their engineers and promised to submit an updated version. They also said each violation is reviewed twice internally, and then by Fort Myers Police, before any ticket is sent out.

"One of the schools, they had 7,300 violations, and I find that hard to believe that the city of Fort Myers wouldn't already be patrolling the area," Burson said.

I reached out to RedSpeed for clarification and to request an updated study but have not received one yet.

Despite concerns about these specific cameras, several council members acknowledged the need for stronger school zone enforcement.

Councilman Burson tells me the city will open a request for proposals — meaning other vendors can compete to present a better plan. Council expects to review those options before making any decisions.

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