Back-to-School: Nine cities in 3 counties have school zone speed cameras

AUBURN, Wash. — Back-to-school season is a busy time for educators, students, and their families. When school is back in session, there are some obvious signs of the start of the year, like increased traffic around school zones during school hours.

Unfortunately, an increase in dangerous speeds around schools and the kids who attend them has prompted some Western Washington school districts, the cities they reside in, and the vigilant police who patrol them to take proactive action.

This year, nine cities across Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties are partnering with their local school districts to set up these cameras.

Cities participating in this back to school safety measures are:

• Auburn
• Bothell
• Everett
• Seattle
• Kirkland
• Edmonds
• Federal Way
• Edgewood
• Bellevue

Each city places these cameras within a school zone at a location of its choosing. The purpose is clear: to deter speeding during school hours. Violators caught speeding can expect a ticket, a strong deterrent that could cost them a few hundred dollars.

In Auburn, Sgt. Tyson Luce, a traffic enforcement officer with the Auburn Police Department, told KIRO 7 that there are currently 12 cameras in ten school zones around the city. Those cameras were established around Auburn last year.

Each camera established was selected after a speed study was performed, and it revealed that the following ten schools had the most violations:

• Lakeland Elementary School
• Ilalko Elementary School/Riverside High School
• Mt. Baker Middle School
• Gildo Rey Elementary
• Evergreen Heights Elementary School
• Arthur Jacobson Elementary School/Mountainview High School
• Olympic Middle School/Pioneer Elementary School
• Olympic Middle School

But since implementing these speed cameras, Mayor Nancy Backus, an Auburn School District alum herself, told KIRO 7 there have been drastic changes.

“It went into effect at the very end of the 2022 school year, it was just warnings, and then it went into effect for 2023, and at the beginning of the time that we were monitoring this, there was a 45% rate on non-compliance. That means 45% of the people driving through a school zone either dropping their kids off, or heading to work, or out doing errands -- whatever the reason was speeding in that school zone.”

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