Wake County School Board Chair Cited for Speeding in School Zone

The leader of North Carolina's largest school district was himself clocked driving nearly double the posted speed limit in an active school zone, court records show.

Tyler Swanson, chair of the Wake County Board of Education and a former Wake County Public Schools special education teacher, was cited by a Cary police officer on January 9 for driving 47 mph in a 25-mph school zone next to West Cary Middle School on Evans Road. The officer noted the incident occurred within 30 minutes of dismissal, meaning the zone's reduced speed limit was legally in force. Swanson waived his court appearance on March 3.

The citation lands with particular weight given Swanson's public record on the issue. In the weeks following the January stop, he emerged as one of the most vocal school board members pushing the district to adopt automated speed cameras in school zones. At the board's March facilities committee meeting, Swanson said, "We want them to be safe and do what's best and shift human behavior around school zones." During a March 9 work session devoted specifically to speed-zone cameras, he added, "I do think this is something that we should address and move forward with, as long as there's partnerships."

Wake County Public Schools, which educates roughly 160,000 students, is the largest school system in North Carolina. The board's camera proposal draws authority from Senate Bill 391 of 2025, a state Department of Transportation omnibus bill that authorizes automated speed enforcement in school zones. Revenue from fines would flow back to the district.

West Cary Middle is a grades 6-8 campus, the kind of school where students routinely walk or wait for buses along the same stretches of road where Swanson was stopped. The board has adopted a policy encouraging students to walk to school when feasible, a point Swanson himself has cited in arguing for safer pedestrian corridors.

Whether the board's camera program advances may now carry an uncomfortable footnote: its most outspoken champion was, three months before those deliberations, the kind of driver the cameras are designed to catch.