How to avoid speeding tickets on Seattle’s freeways

The Seattle region has one of the worst traffic congestion in the nation, as any commuter can attest.

Adding to that sluggish frustration is the often issued speeding ticket. But now there’s a few tips on how to avoid catching the eye, or radar, of the law.

Related: Bicyclists complain they get ticketed when they break the law

“There’s a guy on SR 520 about a mile, or mile and half, out from the bridge. I seen him every single morning this week getting somebody who’s going toward Redmond,” John Curley told co-host Tom Tangney on KIRO Radio’s Tom and Curley Show.

KIRO Radio traffic reporter Chris Sullivan said another state trooper likes to hang out around 5:30 a.m. on northbound I-5 near Northgate.

“He’s there every morning lately, catching people like fish in a barrel,” Sullivan said.

But random observation is one thing; facts are another. Now there is evidence to support the so-called speed traps.

“Consider the times when they write the most amount of tickets &#8212 that’s when traffic is most congested,” Sullivan said. “How can anybody be going 10 miles an hour over between 4-6 p.m.? But yet, that’s when they write the lion share of their speeding tickets.”

Sullivan referred to a KING 5 report that analyzed where and when most tickets are written.

“The next busiest hour is 8 a.m.,” Sullivan said. “I’m doing traffic every morning and I don’t know how anyone can get up to 10 mile an hour over during that congestion.”

“And therein lies the magic of the state patrol” Sullivan said. “They prey and I don’t mean that in a bad way … when the congestion finally breaks free, we all kind of have a tendency to make up for that lost time and lay the hammer down. I’ve been guilty of doing that.”

Location also plays a factor in ticket frequency.

“The most likely spot you are going to get a ticket is cruising through Federal Way at about 320th [Avenue] on I-5, either direction,” Sullivan said. “There are a couple of reasons for that. Going northbound, once you pop up the hill past Wild Waves, you are on a big long plateau and you can get your speed up a bit. It’s also a really wide area where police have an opportunity to pull you over.”

Sullivan noted that wide areas of the freeway offer safer options for police to pull drivers over. That space plays a role in another troublesome stretch of freeway.

“Another spot is I-405 through Kirkland,” Sullivan said. “As you get up in that Totem Lake area where they got a lot of room on the right.”

“Number three on the list is I-90 coming through Eastgate,” he added. “You come up the hill, you’re slow pulling out of Issaquah, and bam, you lay on the hammer.”

To sum up the list, the most common time to get a speeding ticket is roughly between 4-6 p.m. and around 8 a.m. Also, I-5 in Federal Way, I-405 in Kirkland, and I-90 around Eastgate are spots where troopers keep a close watch.