Village responds to 'speed trap' accusations from Columbus

BRICE, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Village of Brice responded to accusations from Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin that the village is acting as a "speed trap" and putting a strain on the court system.

Hardin criticized the village on social media this month over its use of automated traffic cameras to enforce the speed limit. His criticism comes six months after he was ticketed there for speeding.

Hardin was ticketed for driving 30 mph in a 20 mph school zone, according to the traffic citation, and was ordered to pay a $236 fine — $111 of that went to court costs, with the village collecting the remaining $125.

Hardin said the village of 93 people is operating as “little more than a speed trap,” accusing the police department of using its automated cameras like slot machines to collect revenue for the municipality.

"Despite the Village of Brice's modest size, over 7,500 vehicles per day travel through the Brice Road school zone," the village said in a statement. "Speeding through our school zone is a voluntary activity, and the citizens of Brice expect their public safety representatives to mitigate and deter the speeding activity."

The village said that the speed limit signs are highly visible, and there are signs that the school zone is photo-enforced.

Brice also said its speeding fines are "relatively modest" compared to other school zone fines in Ohio, but said the Franklin County Municipal Court's fee is almost five times higher than other courts.

The village suspended its use of the automated cameras in mid-2021 but resumed the program last fall.

Since then, Hardin said the village has taken in nearly half a million dollars in speeding fines, something he said is putting a disproportionate burden on the Franklin County Municipal Court.

Lori Tyack, the Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk, agreed with Hardin.

Tyack said 4,680 citations have been filed with the clerk’s office since the start of 2025, which has “caused a drain on office resources by requiring deputy clerks to focus on the processing of these citations instead of their assigned tasks.”

Additional funding has been requested for staff “specifically designated to process the Village of Brice citations,” Tyack said.

"The Village would argue that the safety of our children should not be described as 'a loophole' as previously reported, and we would invite everyone driving through our community to do so with care and consideration," the village said.

A 2022 news release from the Ohio Auditor of State said Brice did not have "adequate controls to ensure traffic citations issued and fines ultimately collected from automated speed enforcement cameras were in proper order." The release said the village would include increased reporting requirements in its third-party contracts with the administrators.

As of Thursday morning, the village had not responded to an NBC4 email with follow-up questions on whether the increased reporting requirements were implemented when the program resumed.