SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Police Department is installing three new "photo speed cameras" in two different school zones on Spokane's South Hill. It hopes these cameras will convince people to slow down.
That's because police are reporting more than half of drivers are still going too fast in school zones.
The three new cameras on the South Hill will monitor southbound traffic on Ray, northbound traffic on Regal, and northbound traffic on Bernard.
This covers the school zones of Ferris High School and Adams Elementary, as well as Roosevelt Elementary.
The cameras track your speed and are only active when the school zone lights are flashing. SPD Traffic supervisor Sgt. Teresa Fuller said the end goal here is to keep students safe.
"I would love to be able to say I could put myself out of a job or put our cameras out of a job if everybody obeyed the traffic law," Fuller said." And that would make life a lot easier. I mean, that's one of the biggest complaints that come into the department is traffic issues. And frankly, that's a huge thing for our city."
If you are caught speeding when the cameras are active, the ticket will not go on your record or get reported to insurance. But you will face a hefty fine. Depending on your speed, it can range from $217 to a maximum of $483.
Fuller adds the new cameras won’t cost taxpayers a dime. That's because they are fully funded by people who have already received tickets for running red lights and getting speed zone tickets, according to Fuller.
- Lidgerwood Elementary School (S/B on Nevada)
- Audubon Elementary School (E/B Northwest BLVD)
- Ridgeview Elementary (N/B Maple ST and S/B Ash ST)
- Willard Elementary (S/B Monroe ST)
Fuller said since their installment, SPD has seen a significant decrease in speeding in those areas.
“Once a person receives one of those tickets, 9 times out of 10 they never receive another one," Fuller said. "So obviously they're doing their job.”
The three South Hill cameras are still in the engineering phase and still need to be installed, according to Fuller. She said they could go live as early as this spring, but it's more likely they will go live by the start of next school year.
Once the cameras go active, there will be a 30-day grace period where speed violators will receive a warning in the mail.