Speeders face $189 ticket from new school-zone cameras
SEATTLE -- Starting Monday, speeders who are caught by cameras placed on roads near several Seattle schools will be getting a $189 ticket in the mail.
The speed cameras have been installed at Thurgood Marshall, Boardview-Thomson, Olympic View, and Gatewood.
The cameras are active only during school hours and drivers will be warned of the 20 mph speed limit by flashing yellow lights.
"Those little ones need your help to make sure they're safe," said Teresa Wippel with Seattle Public Schools. "Nobody wants to have an accident happen"
Police are also using a mobile speed van to catch speeders near schools that don't have dedicated cameras.
The city says the goal of the program is not simply to issue tickets, but to improve safety and reduce collisions near schools.
The speed cameras have been installed at Thurgood Marshall, Boardview-Thomson, Olympic View, and Gatewood.
The cameras are active only during school hours and drivers will be warned of the 20 mph speed limit by flashing yellow lights.
"Those little ones need your help to make sure they're safe," said Teresa Wippel with Seattle Public Schools. "Nobody wants to have an accident happen"
Police are also using a mobile speed van to catch speeders near schools that don't have dedicated cameras.
The city says the goal of the program is not simply to issue tickets, but to improve safety and reduce collisions near schools.
20 is too much of a slow down for an arterial where the speed is regularly 35 mph, and $189 for going 25 mph showing up in the mail is a price tag that doesnt affect the affluent one bit - it only affects working people.Â
This is nothing more than a money making machine. How many children have been run over in a school zone lately? I do not know of one report. When children are present sure go down to 20 or lower, but if not it should be the going speed limit. I see these lights flashing even when schools out.Â
 @Grumpa Actually, most school zones ARE signed "when children are present".
And the cameras should be required to show children if a ticket is issued, or be controlled by the school to be active only when kids are likely to be there.
Hmm...speed cameras. Â They are not swayed by pleading mothers, fathers, people who think they are important, or anyone else who can try and influence an officer's decision to write a speeding ticket in a school zone. Â That's fair and impartial. Â It's not about revenue. Â It's about the children's safety. Â Driver's need to take out their ear phones, get off their cell phones, turn down their radios, quit doing their make-up, stop eating and driving, and whatever else are distractors when driving and especially in school zones. Â People take it too lightly that they are driving a 4000 pound machine that requires their full attention at all times.
@Utsalady Is it worse to drive 40 in a school zone than it is to drive 25 in a school zone? Because I dont think people driving 25 in a school zone are very much of a problem compared with people who drive 30 or 40 in a school zone.Â
I'm all for this...but in several school zones the signs are confusing, ill spaced, or sometimes obscured by trees and shrubbery. Â
"The cameras are active only during school hours"
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They shouldn't be active during all school hours, children aren't present during all school hours, only if children are near the roadway during times at which children are going to or coming from school. Â If these cameras really are active all day, then it's 100% about money, not safety.
@CommutingGuy Just so I understand you, you're upset about the method in which traffic laws are being enforced and NOT about the traffic laws being broken? Or to put it another way, you're upset about the laws being enforced and not about changing laws that would allow people to speed through school zones?
I know people who drive 5 miles over the speed limit. Going 5 miles over the speed limit is pretty common. How many of you hardliners up here never go 5 miles over the speed limit?Â
 @what?  @CommutingGuy No, I'm commenting that the cameras will be giving people tickets for driving over 20mph when the actual speed limit is higher than that due to children not being present, if this article is accurate that the cameras will be on throughout all school hours.
I support this frankly because people drive like maniacs in Seattle and show little regard for rules of the road, but when was the last time you heard about a child near a school getting hit by a car? Â Personally, I've never heard of a case. Â
@lakeview 5 miles over the speed limit is driving like a maniac? Ok, then honestly, honestly there are nothing but maniacs living in Seattle. This "warning" period. What is a "warning" period for? Is it because people driving 25 on a main arterial are not expecting to pay $189? Why the warning period? Why was the warning period extended from one pathetically short time to a slightly longer pathetically short time? Was it necessary to extend the "warning" period because $189 for going 25 on a main street might surprise alot of people who drive 5 miles over the speed limit? Why extend the "warning" period? If there was a good reason to create and extend the "warning" period, maybe there was a good reason to extend it furhter, extend it long enough so people are actually warned instead of treating it as a joke, ha ha, lets create a warning period and then decide oh that warning period is too short, better extend it 5 seconds longer.Â
 @lakeview I do NOT support this for the exact same reasons.  This doesn't teach bad drivers to be good drivers.
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Instead, there should be a dramatic increase in driver education via classes that are required to maintain your license. Â And these classes should cover a number of subjects and scenarios.
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Time and time again this government fails to address the root cause of almost all our problems, and that is lack of education (and continued education). Â
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 @Landshark  @lakeview "I do NOT support this for the exact same reasons.  This doesn't teach bad drivers to be good drivers."
Would you rather their cars be confiscated - or they just be shot?
At some point, habitual bad drivers will figure it out. Hopefully BEFORE they ht some kid they "didn't see"...
The camera near 130th and Greendwood flashes all time time because drivers don't even see the flashing sign since its a four-lane highway. Make more flashing lights so drivers can actually see when they need to slow down to 20 mph.Â
@3rase How about we pay attention and remember that speeding in a school zone is illegal instead of demanding extra warning that laws are being enforced...
 @what?  @3rase But that would require personal responsibility on the part of those who hate government controlling their lives...
Big Brother is watching...
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And it will only get worse.
 @sadatoni For you, hopefully...
@sadatoni put your tin foil hat back on.
Anyone caught speeding anywhere by any means deserves a ticket. Don't like it, don't speed! If caught in a school zone I'd at least triple the fine. Sucks being surrounded by idiots. What a country.
Gotta fund those fat city pensions somehow!
Must process the OR not the AND.
Writing tickets by hand is a waste of scare resource (police officers). Â Enforcing speed limits, particularly ones in school zones is an ideal task for a machine. Â Hate getting tickets? Â Don't speed.
 @Travis Hartnett What happens when you want to face and question your accuser?Â
@APenny4MyThoughts @Travis Hartnett uh go to court as its a cop who approved the ticket.
 @Travis Hartnett and machines never malfunction right?
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@DevilsAdvocate12 @Travis Hartnett When Redmond had a camera at Union Hill and Avondale (last year), I got a ticket in the mail as it was claimed I didn't stop before making a right onto Union Hill from Avondale...I fought it, but I sent a certified letter to the Redmond Police demanding that whomever examined the footage from the camera be present.....come court day, the judge was ready to uphold the fine even with no proof...but right before he passed (faulty) judgement, I pulled out the signed reciept from the Redmond Police proving that I had requested the officer be there (they weren't)...so the judge had no choice but to dismiss the ticket...he wasn't happy at the city losing a easy $124.00. I tell you, traffic cameras should be outlawed!
@DevilsAdvocate12 @Travis Hartnett That's why you have a right to a trial should you disagree with the ticket. If the machine malfunctioned, the ticket would be tossed out. So what's the real complaint? Maybe the method in which laws are being enforced and not the laws that are being broken?
Simple. You don't want to pay the ticket, don't speed in a school zone. If you CHOOSE to speed in a school zone during the times when children are present, then you choose to get the ticket.  People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions and quit blaming everyone else for their bad decisions.Â
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To be honest, I got a speeding ticket a couple weeks ago. It was MYfault, not the cops, not the city, not the county, not Obama, not Israel, not Hostess,  --- mine. I was the one driving. Period.
Oh come on. It had to be Bush's fault!
Not that I speed, but those cameras have a hard time getting a photo of my newly adjusted plates, which still comply w/ State law.
 @WalletVoter Please keep thinking that way...we need the money.
Just another money grab by government. Â How many little ones have been run down lately? Â This will catch a lot of good people who slow down to a more reasonable 25 miles per hour. Â My SUV idles at 30. Â
@Patches Pal "How many little ones have been run down lately?" Really? We have to wait until a child dies or is seriously injured before we make any changes? As someone whose "little one" crosses at one of these crosswalks daily, I prefer to be proactive. The speed limit is 20. Go 20 or get a ticket. Please don't kill my child because you were going 25, or 30, or 40 (or 50+ as I've seen). It's only for a short time each day. The lights don't flash during the day while the kids are in school, just in the mornings and afternoons when they are coming and going. I don't think it's too much to ask for drivers to slow down along a short stretch so kids don't die. If you want to pay for a cop to be out there, then suggest that your taxes be raised to pay for such a thing. People commute along these routes daily. If they are ticketed, they will get the hint (even if it's after the fact) and hopefully lead to a habit of slowing down in these zones.
@Patches Pal So slow the 'ef down. You don't want a ticket, then don't speed. It really is that simple. The problem here is that you and the others here whining about speed and traffic cams are b!tching about the method they're enforcing the law and not about the dislike for the specific law being broken. Don't think it's fair? You have two options, don't speed or fight to change the laws so that you can 'idle at 30' through a school zone.
 @Patches Pal It's only a money grab by the government when it comes to people like you who think "Speed Limit 20" means "Go about 25." Your SUV does not idle at 35mph. If it does, get it repaired.  You and only you are responsible for maintaining a properly running motor vehicle. And even if it does idle that high, your brake pedal is used to slow your vehicle down. You and only you are responsible for maintaining the speed of your motor vehicle. They should have covered that in basic driving education.
"The city says the goal of the program is not simply to issue tickets, but to improve safety and reduce collisions near schools."
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But mostly simply to issue tickets.
 @wysoumible And if there are a lot of violators, they SHOULD get tickets.
So since these won't stop the speeders only send them a bill could the government be held responsible.  They ticket someone and then the driver hits a kid on the same trip.  The government(camera) knew they were speeding but didn't stop them allowing them to hit someone.  If this was about safety stop the speeder.  Put an officer out there or heck park off duty patrol cars on the street it will slow people down more than a camera would.
 @APenny4MyThoughts "So since these won't stop the speeders only send them a bill could the government be held responsible."
You value your thoughts a bit too high.
It always seems the ones who cry out the loudest are the ones who get caught.
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 @Bobby Brown  @mstipton Not old enough to drive yet?
 @mstipton I have not been caught by a red light camera or a speed camera. My last speeding ticket was over 3 years ago and I have only had 2 in my life and one parking ticket as well.  I cry because it is a dangerous path to let the government go down. If these were about safety they would have officers there stopping the speeders not cameras letting them speed and sending them a bill weeks afterwards.  This may sound like safety but it is about money. These tickets also will not go on their record so it won't affect insurance or allow for multiple offenders to be handled as such.
 @APenny4MyThoughts  @mstipton What is so dangerous about using a machine to do the same thing a cop would do? If they posted a cop at every school zone, you'd be whining about that, too. Just shut up and go the speed limit and you won't be affected.
 @APenny4MyThoughts  @Sovereign  @APenny4MyThoughts  @mstipton "We will wake up one day and the government will know our every move"
So...leave the cell phone at home, don't drive - and check your stealth clothing for locator bugs...and you should be fine...
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 @Sovereign  @APenny4MyThoughts  @mstipton  "Just shut up and go the speed limit and you won't be affected" . I bet you were up all night trying to come up that one.
 @APenny4MyThoughts LOL. Go back to infowars.com with the rest of the paranoid conspiracy theorists.
@Sovereign @APenny4MyThoughts @mstipton In the direct sense cause this camera is not stopping speeders it is just ticketing(billing them). The speeder won't know they were speeding till weeks later. The indirect since is the goverment wants to put up camera here today, there tomorrow, drones next year, and tracking devices in the not to distant future. We will wake up one day and the government will know our every move and sends us tickets for things we do inside our own house or arrest us for private conversations and ideas. Its funny how the goverment is against us taking pictures and tapping them but they want to do the same to use. Take a moment and think about that.
20 means 20. Not 21.Â
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Hit them where it hurts - in the pocketbook, and hopefully points on the record which drives up insurance - Â as it is a speeding ticket. Not sure about that yet, I have to dig on it - although if someone else knows off the top of their head, please let me know.
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Either way - it leaves a lasting impression. I support it.
 @Audio Cat I assume you also don't go over 60 mph on the freeway since going 61+ mph would be breaking the speed limit.
 @Audio Cat tickets issued by a camera system are treated just like parking ticket as far as your driving record goes,  It's not technically a speeding ticket like an LEO would give to a motorist. Doesn't go on the record, the insurance company doesn't hear about it