‘I need you to catch me’: KIRO host backs Alki speed bumps but draws the line at cameras

Speed bumps are expanding around Alki Beach, with Edmonds just approving 24/7 school zone speed cameras, and Bellevue has added more automated enforcement, but the conversation on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio turned into a broader debate about where the line is between safety and overreach.

KIRO fill-in host Jim Dever kicked things off with Alki, where two sets of speed bumps have already been installed, and roughly a half-dozen more are on the way. Seattle Department of Transportation has been adding traffic-calming measures along Harbor Avenue and Alki Avenue and surrounding cross streets since 2024 in response to street racing, speeding, and a 2024 fatal shooting tied to a racing event.

KIRO fill-in host Angela Poe Russell said she supports the speed bumps at Alki but drew a hard line against expanding automated camera enforcement.

“If the alternative is a camera, I will take the speed bump,” Angela said. “If you have an issue with what I’m doing, I need you to catch me. And I’m not saying I’m doing bad things.”

Angela says cameras in school zones are fine — everywhere else, ‘knock it off’

Angela supports cameras in school zones during school hours, work zones, and high-pedestrian areas but opposes blanket camera enforcement citywide.

“The exception for me is if you’re in areas that are especially vulnerable, like the school zones, high-pedestrian areas, work zones, the camera’s fine,” Angela said. “Everywhere else, it’s like knock it off.”

She described getting a camera ticket for a right turn and feeling it crossed a line.

“The fact that they can send me video of my infraction is ridiculous,” Angela said.

Edmonds turns school zone cameras on 24/7, expecting $1 million in revenue

KIRO producer Andrew Lanier brought up Edmonds, where the city council voted 5-2 to run school zone speed cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At the budget meeting, city staff said the change could generate about $1 million in revenue next year.

“What’s the logic behind 24 hours a day when school’s only, are they trying to get people in the habit, or do you think it’s money?” Angela asked.

Andrew said the city’s argument is that children use school campuses outside of school hours for activities like T-ball.

“You can always make things safer,” Andrew said. “And so, why would we only protect the children during school hours?”

Dever noted the revenue angle.

“One reason they do this is that they can make a lot of money,” Dever said. “Edmonds, with their new school zone speed cameras, at the budget meeting, the city staff said the change could generate about a million dollars in revenue for the city next year. A million dollars.”

The philosophical divide: context v. enforcement

Andrew raised the question that drives much of the public frustration.

“Sometimes speeding isn’t dangerous, right?” Andrew said. “In the same way that jaywalking is not dangerous at all times. If there are no cars on the road, it’s okay to jaywalk. If you’re in a rural area and there’s no one around, and you can see both ways through an intersection, and you’ve been waiting for the red light for eight minutes, have you ever run that light? Of course you have.”

“And the camera catches that, and it doesn’t capture the context around why you did it,” Angela responded. “That’s a great point.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.