Speeders beware: The Seattle Police Department announced plans to install a fixed school speed zone camera on Fauntleroy next to Gatewood Elementary School and to start parking their speed van near Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 7100 block of 35th Ave S.W.
SPD officials discussed their plans with the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee on Aug. 14.
The fixed school speed zone cameras are going up near four schools (including Gatewood) before the 2012-2013 school year begins. The cameras are radar-based and speeders will notice the tell-tale flash (similar to red light cameras) if they are speeding, meaning the camera has taken a photo of the vehicle, according to a memo from SPD to the Transportation Committee.
Those caught by the camera can expect a ticket in the mail about a week later.
Tickets will only be issued during school hours when the school beacons are flashing.
According to the memo, the Gatewood School zone on Fauntleroy made the short list of problem areas where SDOT noticed “speeding continued to be a concern,” even in the presence of clearly visible, flashing school speed zone signs. SDOT looked at 50 different school zones in the study.
SPD is also putting a new speed van on the streets after the original van, purchased back in 2008, was riddled with technical problems.
The vans works the same as a speeding camera (with a radar, flash and camera), but is required to have a trained officer inside and, obviously, has the ability to move to different areas around the city, including 35th Ave. near Our Lady of Guadalupe.
SPD officials fielded some tough inquiries from the City Council’s Transportation Committee, including concern that Seattle has been paying ATS (the same company that makes the fixed cameras) a monthly leasing fee (the exact figure was not available during the discussion), even when the original van was out of commission. SPD said they would look into getting reimbursed for periods of time when the van’s technology was not working.
Councilmember Bruce Harrell asked SPD why the speed van is white instead of clearly marked as a police vehicle, and whether that decision could lead to entrapment issues.
SPD Assistant Chief Paul McDonagh of the Special Operations Bureau said one of the reasons they keep the van inconspicuous is so officers on ticketing patrol are not pulled away for other duties.
“The entrapment issue is not there because we are not telling anyone to go fast,” he said, adding the department would look into the possibility of putting signage on the vehicle.
While the van remains anonymous, SPD does put up sandwich boards signifying school speed zones are being enforced, Officer Jim Morgan with the Traffic Division said.
