SEATTLE — Seattle may soon install additional cameras to catch speeders.
Currently, speed zone cameras are in place outside 19 schools. A new proposal calls for adding 37 cameras at 19 more schools and spending more than $1 million to install speed cameras outside school zones as well.
The Seattle City Council’s transportation committee heard public comment on the proposal this week.
Advocacy groups critique possibility of new Seattle speed cameras
“We’ve heard from communities of color that they feel they have been both over-enforced and under-invested in when it comes to transportation safety,” said Gordon Padelford, executive director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. “I think the department is starting to change that, which we’re very grateful for, and that really needs to continue as a strong commitment from this body and from the city.”
Clara Cantor, with the group Whose Streets? Our Streets! criticized the new legislation, saying it could stray from its original purpose.
“The stated goal of this program is to decrease dangerous speeding to improve safety on our streets,” said Clara Cantor, with the group Whose Streets? Our Streets! “And yet many of the policies included in this new legislation point more toward turning this program into a way for the city to generate revenue, oftentimes on the backs of BIPOC and low-income neighborhoods.”
Rob Saka, chair of the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee, said the cameras raise concerns about privacy and fairness.
“This technology is a vital tool among a broader set of tools that, when responsibly deployed, can help address unlawful behavior in and around our roads,” Saka said. “We heard earlier from public comments that Black and brown communities have historically borne the brunt of deployment and these kinds of punitive automated enforcement technologies, and that’s true,” Saka said. “That’s why I approach this deployment of technology with cautious skepticism and optimism.”
Under the proposal, speeders could receive $145 tickets outside school zones. Within school zones, fines could double.
The committee is expected to vote on the proposal on May 6.
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