A new Virginia law gives local police the option to install AI-powered cameras that catch drivers running stop signs or failing to yield to pedestrians. Fairfax County police say they have no plans to use it.
Senate Bill 84, signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger on April 13 and effective July 1, authorizes automated enforcement cameras in school crossing zones, highway work zones and designated high-risk speed corridors. State Sen. Angelia Williams Graves sponsored the legislation.
A Fairfax County Police Department spokesperson told the Fairfax County Times there is "no plan whatsoever to implement the use of Flock Safety cameras at crosswalks and stop signs." The department said SB 84 covers photo speed enforcement handled by its Traffic Division and is separate from the county's existing Flock Safety license plate reader network.
How the law works
Civil penalties are capped at $100 per violation. Revenue beyond operating costs must go into a local fund for traffic safety planning and bicycle and pedestrian safety. Local agencies must run a public awareness campaign before deploying cameras, and a police officer must approve each citation before it is mailed.
Participation is entirely optional. Local governments retain full discretion over whether and where to deploy the systems.
One company preparing to offer the technology in Virginia is Obvio, whose solar-powered cameras can detect stop-sign violations and failure-to-yield incidents. Footage not containing a violation is overwritten on the device almost immediately, according to the company.
The safety case
Virginia recorded 138 pedestrian deaths in 2025, according to the Virginia DMV Highway Safety Office. A Virginia Department of Transportation analysis found pedestrian-involved crashes increased 43 percent statewide between 2020 and 2024.
A study by Obvio, the camera vendor, found that roughly two out of three drivers at 24 Virginia intersections were not stopping at stop signs. At one all-way stop in Vienna, at Tapawingo Road and Ware Street SW, observers recorded 84 drivers running the intersection in a 20-minute window.
Mike Doyle, founder and executive director of Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, pointed to the stop-sign camera program as part of a broader push to expand automated enforcement beyond school zones to high-crash networks across the state.
Privacy concerns
The new law arrives amid growing unease over surveillance technology in Fairfax County. The department's existing license plate reader program, operated through its Real Time Crime Center since November 2022, has contributed to 1,503 criminal investigations and 870 arrests through July 1, according to the department. The advocacy group DeFlock Fairfax has called on the county to end its Flock Safety contract, citing concerns over data sharing and civil liberties.
The existing network has also drawn scrutiny after a Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism report found audit logs referencing federal agencies or immigration-related terms in searches across multiple Virginia localities, including Fairfax County.
At an April 16 Board of Supervisors public hearing, Matthew Lofgren, speaking on behalf of Herndon Friends Meeting, urged county leaders to reconsider the technology.
"Normal red-blooded Americans don't like knowing their movements can be tracked at any time without a warrant," Lofgren said.
No timeline or public comment period has been announced for Fairfax County to adopt SB 84 cameras. The Hunter Mill District supervisor's office has not publicly weighed in. Residents can track Board of Supervisors meeting agendas at fairfaxcounty.gov/boardofsupervisors.
