The origin
Connecticut's school zone speed camera program was established through state legislation. Reading draft bills on the Connecticut General Assembly's website — cga.ct.gov — is a publicly available but rarely used resource. The legislation defined the zones, the enforcement hours (24/7), the speed threshold (20 MPH during school hours), the citation effective dates, and the vendor selection process. Altumint was named as the enforcement vendor. Understanding all of that meant the site could be built with accurate information from day one.
The stance is one of civic displeasure expressed through transparency rather than litigation. No FOIA requests were filed. Concerns were expressed directly to town officials. The site is the primary instrument — making camera locations and enforcement rules easy to find for any Fairfield resident who wants to understand what they are driving into.
Skills acquired
Reading Legislation
State legislative websites like cga.ct.gov publish bill text, amendments, committee reports, and final public acts. Reading draft legislation — not news coverage of it — requires understanding bill structure: the finding sections that establish intent, the definitional sections that determine scope, the enforcement provisions that determine consequences, and the implementation timelines. Following a bill from draft through public act and translating that into accurate public-facing information is a transferable research skill that goes well beyond this single project.
Interactive Mapping with Leaflet.js
The map uses Leaflet.js — an open-source JavaScript library for interactive maps — layered on top of OpenStreetMap tile data. Each camera zone is represented as a colored polygon or marker set corresponding to its school. Clicking a zone surfaces the relevant details: school name, enforcement hours, citation effective date, and camera count. Building this required understanding how Leaflet handles layers, how to define geographic coordinates for zone boundaries, how to wire up click events to info panels, and how to keep the map performant without server infrastructure. The entire map runs client-side with no backend.
Civic Technology & Public Information Design
A civic site has a specific design obligation: the information must be unambiguous, easy to scan, and accurate. Residents should be able to arrive at the site, find their neighborhood's camera zones, and understand the enforcement rules in under a minute. That means resisting the temptation to editorialize in the interface itself, keeping the map as the primary element, and putting supporting detail in a secondary position. The site is actively maintained — if cameras are removed or new zones are added, the map will be updated to reflect reality.