More Red Light Cameras (or How Elected Officials Piss Off Constituents) in Issaquah, Seattle, and Fife, Among Other Cities
Earlier this week Seattle Times reporter Danny Westneat wrote about his frustration and how his driving habits have changed--for the worse--since Seattle decided to put up red-light cameras.
Since drivers call me daily to talk about red-light camera traffic tickets that motorists have received in the mail (and no one has called me happy to have received such a gift), it is important to note that a red-light camera traffic ticket has no effect on insurance premiums, although if a driver is stopped by a police officer and cited for a red light violation, this latter type of violation does have consequences to insurance costs.
Seattle joins other cities like Auburn, Bellevue, Bremerton, Burien, Federal Way, Fife, Issaquah, Lacey, Lake Forest Park, Lakewood, Lynnwood, Monroe, Moses Lake, Puyallup, Renton, Seatac, Spokane, Tacoma, and Wenatchee in having some form of automated traffic camera devices.
Westneat makes many good observations (more after the jump).
Among them:
“[L]ast week came the latest in a series of studies showing red-light cameras may be having perverse effects on drivers. They do nothing to reduce accidents and may even cause them. . . . The cameras raise money, not public safety.
Thank you, Mr. Westneat, for calling it like it is. But Westneat has to compete with his elected officials, chief among them Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata, who hates cars let alone the people who drive them. Licata thinks red light cameras are wonderful.
Opines Licata:
“Seattle Councilmember Nick Licata, a fan of the red-light program, says [Westneat is] nuts. The problem, if there is one, is there aren't enough red-light cameras to get everyone to slow down and drive less aggressively.
"It's a major undertaking to change our driving culture," Licata said.
Licata gets it wrong. We don’t need to change the driving culture, we need to change ourselves for having allowed people like Licata to advocate and expend taxpayer resources on these egregious devices. Want to blame Licata? Understandable. But Licata is a small part of the problem. The problem is that no one has stepped forward to stop the Nick Licatas of the world—and there are many on city councils across Washington State—from putting red-light cameras everywhere. Licata would put red-light cameras outside at the foot of your driveway or garage if he could.
Don’t like it? Probably the best way to solve this issue is through a voter initiative that would change state law by prohibiting municipalities from using red-light cameras or prohibit municipalities from keeping any of the funds collected from the use of red-light cameras. We had a failed statewide voter initiative that linked the latter idea to other transportation issues, but perhaps it's time to unlink this issue and put it before the voters once and for all. This would be Nick Licata's worst nightmare.
The city of renton uses the speed camera in front of renton high school as a revenue machine. there is no evidence of any flashing lights in the video used to issue the ticket. and even the judges know the lights malfunction but they don't care they just want your money.
In my case in Lynwood the judge after finding myself and dozens of other drivers guilty of red light infractions seemed to imply that because ourinsurance companies would not be notified We should greatfulsince our insurance rate would not go up. A lotta nonsense that was Since no insurance company supports such red light banditry and those lights would be out in days if the Insurance Companys had their way.
The complaint of many travelers through Lake Forest Park is the photo ticketing in school zones. In fact, the signs do not comply with state and federal standards with lettering far too small to be read by motorists in the allowed time. Rather than make anything safer, this condition creates a far higher risk to pedestrians because drivers are expected to spend all their driving time trying to read the unreadable rather than effectively driving.
I invite those with the same concern in Lake Forest Park to contact me at goldastarr@gmail.com.
I'm not in favor of the red light cameras, true. But recently I discovered something to charge up my feelings of righteous indignation even more: School zone reduced speed cameras. No, I'm not in favor of speeding in school zones. But in order to obey the law, there need to be signs that I can read to let me know when I have to slow down.
In Lake Forest Park in North Seattle, the school zone reduced speed signs are unreadable when motoring at the posted speed limit. They've independently decided to write an essay on the signs - with words too small to see. They either blatantly ignore or simply don't care that there are state and federal standards governing signs. Safety is supposed to be the purpose of a school speed zone, right? But if all my attention is on trying to read the overly small words on a street sign, how can I be really driving safely? All that's needed is for the city of LFP to make their signs comply with state regs so that drivers trying to read the fine print on the signs don't put pedestrians are put at risk.
The readability of a sign depends on: 1. the speed of the car; 2. the distance away; 3. the size and thickness of the lettering; 4. how many words are on the sign; and 5. length of the letter track line.
So let's talk about the details of their signs. The signs in question consist of a total of 20 words (per DOT count). Per DOT, a driver can read 3 words/second. With 20 words, this sign takes nearly 7 seconds to read. That means a person must BEGIN reading it 300 feet before reaching the sign.
But the lettering size on 9 words of the sign, (the time section) is so small that the words don't begin to even be visible to drivers until they are 45 feet from the sign. A car travels 44 feet in ONE second YET 3 seconds are required to read this line alone. By then the driver is well past the sign, still not knowing what it says, and faced with the flash of a photo enforcement camera. All because the city has signs that are far below state standards. Is this on purpose or by design?
If safety is LFP's purpose in their signage, the signs need to comply with state standards and be readable from a safe distance. Otherwise the purpose of these signs is in question, edging too close to simple city fundraising.
One last word. It appears that there is no body to enforce that city signs are designed appropriately, are safe, and effectively meet the needs of the situation. In fact there is no body to prevent a city from colluding with camera operators, and actually creating confusing situations that result in tickets for people that would be glad to slow down if they realized they were supposed to.
goldastarr@gmail.com
This article notes: "it is important to note that a red-light camera traffic ticket has no effect on insurance premiums;"- I received such a ticket received in mail recently from when I was visiting in California- is this also true of tickets received in CA by WA state residents? What about the reporting of the point to DMV that they threaten?
Thanks for any insights.
Jim
I hate fife, wa along with its cameras and crap traffic, it is the armpit of pierce county!
@Jim - yes, a California red-light camera ticket would presumably not affect a driver licensed by the State of Washington because Washington does not record red-light camera tickets as part of the driver's abstract. Washington no longer operates on a point-system; rather, we look at the quantity and timeframe of a driver's infractions to determine whether a driver's license gets suspended or revoked.
Renton *still* hasn't figured out what to charge on a photo ticket. After listening to a 38 minute lecture on why the Court would not dismiss anything, I asked the Court to dismiss on IRLJ 2.2 and he could not shut me up and get me out of there fast enough.
I honestly could not complete my request before he dismissed.
In the interests of full disclosure, Elizabeth Powell is a top Tacoma attorney. Things might not go as well for the defendant representing oneself; however, because camera tickets do not affect the driving record of standard Washington State driver license holders, one can represent oneself on a camera ticket; however, representing oneself is not advised for other types of infractions and matters.
There are many intersections in Lakewood with cameras. Most of them do not have the required signs and many have the cameras facing traffic.
@Larry. Yes, there are indeed such intersections, but some cameras record video while others take photographs. In Washington the idea is to get a close-up of the vehicle license plate.
Lake Forest Park has a new scam (besides the red light and school zone cameras).. It pertains to drivers that are traveling south on Bothell Way and are moving into the right lane to turn right onto Ballinger Way. There is a small side street before you get to Ballinger Way called 47th Ave NE (that nobody uses unless you live along it). When you move into right lane there is a sign that reads "right lane must turn right next right" Of course-when you are traveling 40 to 45 mph you don't see the "next right" at the end of the sign. The driver suppose to be past 47th Ave NE before they move into the right lane to turn onto Ballinger Way. LFP police now parks on 47th Ave waiting for drivers who move into the right lane too soon. Drivers make this understandable error all day long and it amounts to a $124 ticket each time.
LFP is taking advantage of a confusing situation to make an easy money grab!!!!