Seattle to install new traffic cameras to ticket drivers blocking intersections, bus lanes
Nov 15, 2021, 2:10 PM | Updated: Nov 16, 2021, 10:56 am
Credit Matthew Rutledge via Flickr
Say goodbye to downtown Seattle’s seemingly eternal state of peak-traffic intersection gridlock.
The Seattle Department of Transportation has announced that it will install eight new traffic cameras with the intention of eliminating illegally stalled vehicles blocking intersections, crosswalks, and bus lanes.
The cameras will check license plates of those vehicles violating the law. Tickets will be $75, although first-time offenders are afforded a courtesy warning.
The cameras, which will go into operation in 2022, will be installed at the following locations:
- Aurora Ave N at Galer St
- 3rd Ave at James St
- 1st Ave at Columbia St
- 3rd Ave and Stewart St
- 4th Ave at Battery St
- 4th Ave at Jackson St
- Westlake Ave N at Valley St/Roy St
- 5th Ave at Olive Way
Those locations were chosen based on the volume of citations previously issued for illegally obstructing crosswalks and intersections.
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Half of the revenue generated by the citations will be allocated toward the Washington Traffic Safety Commission fund for bicycle and pedestrian safety projects. The other portion will be put toward safety and mobility improvements for the disabled: more accessible and apparent walk signals, for example.
The traffic cameras will only be used to enforce lane and crosswalk obstruction. They are not intended for use related to other traffic infractions.
SDOT plans to install the cameras later in November. The cameras will not be used in production of traffic fines until 2022.
