Speed cameras on Fifth Avenue Northeast alongside Olympic View Elementary School were installed earlier this week and are now operational.
We reported on them this summer. The city says speeding on Fifth by the school, 504 N.E. 95th St., is among the fifth worst in Seattle school zones.
The units are like the automatic red light cameras, but focused on speeders. Those caught speeding will receive citations in the mail.
They are on Fifth at approximately Northeast 94th and 96th streets.
Today the light flashed when I was going maybe 30 mph at 4:30, no children in sight. Are they monitoring this? Does the light mean you’ve been ticketed?
Just warnings are being mailed through 11/23; only enforced during school hours…per radio news report this morning.
I was photographed there the other day, doing the normal speed limit, but there were no children present. Will I get a ticket?
paranoia. (n) 1. a psychotic disorder characterized by delusions of persecution. 2. Extreme, irrational distrust of others. Just sayin.
“People have been hit by cars speeding through this section of 5th, and the traffic volume keeps increasing. If you don’t speed, you won’t have to worry about it…”
Thanks for telling us what to worry about. Sorry if I don’t like big government filming and photographing me and my car for simply using a public street. The increased police surveillance just puts us closer to a police state and Orwell’s 1984. There’s more to this issue than speeding, it’s the attack on the rights of the innocent that are currently playing by the rules and obeying the laws. I don’t want to give up my freedom and rights for the illusion of being more safe.
Agree regarding doing the speed limit. I just hope the cameras are accurate to when school is in session AND children are present. My husband was ticketed a few years ago for doing 27 mph on Roosevelt 40 minutes BEFORE St. Catherine’s first bell. (There were no children present – only an overly zealous cop.) The flashing light northbound on Roosevelt is horribly obscured by the trees – hopefully the camera on 5th is in clear view and accurate.
Couldn’t agree more with H. Just drive the speed limit. Really not that difficult.
Is this going to happen for Roosevelt, which has more pedestrian traffic than 5th or 15th?
@7 “People have been hit by cars speeding through this section of 5th”
That’s a bunch of baloney.
Cry me a river gang. Just slow down. Really.
Now let’s repaint some crosswalks on 15th Ave @ NE 95th or 96th leading down to Sacajawea. Some sidewalks would be nice, too. Maybe a crossing guard once and a while? Wishful thinking….
This was one of the top 5 school zones in the city for excess speeds. That’s the reason they are here.
Whether they perform the function of lowering speeds better than a marked patrol car, that’s a point worth debating. We won’t know for some months.
Let’s hope they are programmed correctly. The city of Monroe had to refund a lot of money for tickets that were issued do to malfunctions with the cameras.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20111104/NEWS01/711049797
Vandalize the cameras. What a brilliant idea! Tell you what — next time a cop pulls you over for speeding, go ahead and punch ’em. Same thing, right? A clear violation of your right to be an idiot.
People have been hit by cars speeding through this section of 5th, and the traffic volume keeps increasing. If you don’t speed, you won’t have to worry about it…
Profit center. Nothing more. I hope somebody vandalizes the cameras.
While I agree that red light cameras are strictly a for-profit venture for the city I don’t think that’s the driver behind using them in school zones. My main problem with this is I believe like the red-light cameras that citations issued from these would also not be considered moving violations and therefore only represent a minor financial penalty to the car’s owner. Maybe the citation laws are different with this use case. The only way I could see this being effective at reducing speed in school zone is if the information is used by police to schedule officer supported speed enforcement. I know officers can’t be expected to patrol the area for hours every day but maybe there are a couple 20 minute windows where most of the infractions take place and emphasis could be placed on those. Otherwise just chucking $124 tickets in the mail is only going to fatten the wallets at some company in Colorado.
There might be something to folks trying to avoid and choose other routes theory. For my purposes its just as easy to use Roosevelt as it is 5th when heading south. And yeah, I may even cut through a neighborhood to do that. Not a big fan of photo enforcement. My 2 kids went to O.V. and no one ever worried about speeding cars on 5th. I don’t get it.
I don’t have a problem with this
and slow down; the light is gonna be red anyway.
I didn’t know that bridge tolls were a way to get people to slow down.
We already know how poorly this system works, at “photo-enforced” intersections. It will just clog our overburdened courts in the city’s foolish attempt to create a new revenue source. Similar to the floating-bridge tolls, cars are more likely to find a new route through the neighborhood rather than actually slow down.