What’s Next for Traffic Cameras in Seattle?
To help shape the future of automated camera enforcement in Seattle, we invite you to take our survey.
Earlier this year, members of Whose Streets? Our Streets! (WSOS) heard a presentation from Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) staff about the City’s automated traffic safety cameras and the tickets they issue. This spurred conversations in our group about yet another form of over-policing taking place in Seattle’s BIPOC communities.
Across the country, automated ticketing has been proposed as an alternative to traffic stops by police officers. We know that in-person traffic stops can lead to stressful encounters, biased enforcement, investigative searches, and tragic deaths, particularly for people of color. While Black residents are 7% of Seattle’s population, Black drivers have received 21% of traffic tickets from officers.
Automated traffic enforcement is better than in-person ticketing in many ways, but it is not a perfect solution. For one, it too can create inequitable financial burdens. It also can’t solve the problem of poorly-designed streets that encourage speeding.
Our goals are to push the City of Seattle towards progressive policies around automated ticketing that:
Do not disproportionately harm communities of color or those who cannot pay, and
Ensure that ticket revenue is invested back into making local streets safer.
Here’s an overview of what we’ve learned:
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Collisions and average speeds have significantly dropped at locations in Seattle where school zone cameras have been installed. At intersections with red light cameras, fatal collisions have gone down by nearly 40%.
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SDOT decides where to place traffic cameras based on collision and speeding data, not community demographics. As a result, 65% of cameras are in neighborhoods with relatively more people of color and immigrants. Those are where Seattle’s most dangerous roads tend to be located due to historical disinvestment.
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Automated camera tickets in Seattle can cost as much as $237, and many go unpaid. Options for those who can’t afford to pay are limited, and include performing community service at minimum wage. It would take about 14 hours to pay off a $237 ticket using this option.
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Out of all Seattle residents who were ticketed from 2006-2020, about 95% never received a second ticket at the same location. Additionally, cameras issue warnings during their first 30 days after installation, and 85% of those issued a warning never received a ticket at the same location. These findings suggest that always giving out warnings instead of a first ticket might be effective.
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Together, Seattle’s school zone speeding cameras and red light cameras generated $12.6 million in ticket revenue in 2019. Only about half of that money went towards school street safety projects and education campaigns. The rest of the revenue (not including funds needed for operation and maintenance of the cameras) went to the city’s general fund, where it can be spent on any city program.
In collaboration with SDOT, we are sharing what we learned with the goal of getting community feedback about Seattle’s automated enforcement practices. You can view SDOT’s presentation slides here. Note that their findings are preliminary and may change in the future.
SDOT shares our group’s goals of addressing the unintended consequences of automated enforcement and working towards creative alternatives, both of which are included in Seattle’s Transportation Equity Framework. Their evaluation of automated enforcement is part of the Racial Equity Toolkit process developed by the City of Seattle to move towards more racially equitable policies and practices. Our group looks forward to continuing to engage with SDOT on this topic.
Now, we are asking you: Should Seattle continue to invest in automated traffic safety cameras? Do the benefits outweigh the harms of ticketing for BIPOC communities? How can Seattle do better in the future?
We invite you to take our survey on automated enforcement.
We will use the perspectives that you share to push for change.
You can also share feedback by email at wsos@seattlegreenways.org or leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post. Below is our group’s summary of key points.
Overview of automated ticketing
Seattle has been using automated cameras since 2006. As of 2020, there were 57 cameras around the city.
There are three types of automated enforcement in Seattle: (1) red light cameras, (2) school zone speed cameras, and (3) cameras monitoring blocked intersections (“block the box” violations) and transit-only lanes. SDOT’s presentation focused only on the first two types; the third set of cameras were first installed this year.
[Updated February 20, 2023] In 2022, Seattle’s traffic cameras issued nearly 200,000 tickets, almost 50 times more than police officers gave out during in-person traffic stops. In previous years, traffic cameras issued only 3-4 times more than officers. Seattle plans to double its number of school zone speed cameras in 2023.
Automated tickets are treated like parking tickets. They are issued to the vehicle, not a specific person. You can’t lose your license for an unpaid automated ticket. They don’t go on your driving record, and you can’t go to jail after receiving a ticket.
Washington state law requires that all traffic camera tickets must be reviewed by a police officer. Unless the law is changed, this requires funding for the Seattle PD employees assigned to the job.
Do traffic cameras make streets safer?
Yes, traffic cameras have been proven to reduce speeding and crashes.
In Seattle, average speeds at school zone camera locations have decreased by 4%. Collisions dropped by 71% during school hours and 50% during the entire day. Since the first eight cameras were installed in 2012, speed violations at those locations dropped from about 50,000 per year to about 15,000 in 2019.
At intersections where red light cameras are installed, SDOT has seen fewer collisions, ranging from a 5% to 25% reduction for different types of collisions compared to intersections without cameras. Fatal collisions went down by nearly 40%.
Significant reductions in speeding seem to occur in the 2-3 years after a speed camera is placed in a school zone.
Where cameras are placed in Seattle
SDOT says that they use collision and speeding data to decide where to put cameras. Cameras tend to be placed on larger (arterial) streets, which are often in areas with a history of long-term disinvestment (such as redlining). For better or worse, community demographics have not been considered during camera placement.
65% of cameras are in neighborhoods with relatively more people of color and immigrants, while 18% are in neighborhoods with relatively few people of color and immigrants.
61% of cameras are in neighborhoods with relatively more poverty and lower education rates, while 14% are in neighborhoods with relatively less poverty and higher education rates.
Who has received tickets
The City of Seattle does not collect data on race or incomes of individuals ticketed by automated enforcement cameras, but can infer community demographics of people ticketed based on their vehicle’s registered address.
About half of all tickets go to Seattle residents. Out of those, 45% live in Seattle neighborhoods with relatively more people of color and immigrants, while 38% live in neighborhoods with the opposite.
26% of ticketed Seattleites live in lower-income neighborhoods (those with a median income below 80% of the city median in 2015 – under $64,000), while 38% live in higher-income neighborhoods (those with a median income above 120% – greater than $96,000).
Around 80% of all tickets to Seattleites were issued more than a mile away from one’s home.
Of Seattle residents who have been ticketed from 2006-2020, about 95% never received a second ticket at the same location. Also, 85% of those issued a warning (given by cameras in their first 30 days after installation) never received a ticket at the same location. This suggests that always giving out warnings instead of a first ticket might be effective. (The new “block the box” and transit lane cameras issue a warning to first-time violators, but the speed and red light cameras don’t after the first 30 days.)
Financial impacts
School zone speeding tickets are $237, red light tickets are $139, and “block the box” or transit lane violations are $75. The amounts are set to match in-person tickets, and the city has the ability to change them.
32% of tickets go unpaid. These collect late fees and can be sent to collection agencies.
Seattle offers alternative payment options, but these have high barriers:
You can ask for a 30-day extension.
You can set up a payment plan of at least $50 a month, or $25 a month if you’re eligible for government assistance.
You can perform community service at an approved organization for minimum wage. At Seattle’s current minimum wage of $17.27 an hour, it would take about 14 hours of work to pay for a $237 ticket.
You can request a hearing with the Municipal Court if you are low income or have unpaid previous tickets.
You can challenge a ticket by writing a letter or requesting a court hearing.
Where does the money go?
School zone speeding tickets generated $9.3 million in revenue in 2019. About 75% of that money goes towards school street safety projects and education campaigns, while about 25% goes to operations and maintenance of the cameras.
Red light tickets brought in $3.3 million in 2019. That money goes to the city’s general fund and can be spent on any city program, not necessarily programs investing in areas or communities where the most tickets are issued.
SDOT is continuing to review the financials of automated enforcement and will have additional analysis to share in the coming months.
