Locations for photo enforcement are based on analysis done by the City's engineering department; this analysis is presented to City Council, which then makes the final determination. The methodology the engineering department uses for recommending photo enforcement is dependent on whether red-light enforcement or speed enforcement is being considered: 

• For automated red-light enforcement, the engineering department will recommend that red-light cameras be installed only as an escalation of conventional red-light enforcement which has been shown to be effective but unfeasible. If an intersection has a high frequency of crashes which are related to red-light violations, or if the frequency and nature of red-light violations is creating a high crash risk for vulnerable road users (i.e. bicyclists and pedestrians), then the engineering department will recommend to the police department that the intersection receive special red-light enforcement. If in-person enforcement is effective at addressing the issue but it is not possible to provide in-person enforcement with sufficient frequency to permanently resolve the issue, then the engineering department will recommend that automated red-light enforcement be implemented in order to provide a permanent enforcement presence. 

• For automated speed enforcement, the engineering department continuously monitors Kenmore streets for high crash frequency or high-risk speeding behavior. Unfortunately crashes occur every year in our school zones on busier streets (classified as "arterial" or "collector" streets by traffic engineers) in spite of frequent speed enforcement by Kenmore Police. Although we are fortunate that in recent years these crashes have not involved pedestrians and many are low in severity, they nonetheless demonstrate the risk present to all road users and vulnerable road users especially. For this reason, the engineering department conducts school-zone speeding analysis in all school zones on arterial and collector streets, and also on school zones which have experienced at least one crash in the past five years, even if they are not located on arterial or collector streets. This analysis takes into account factors such as the actual travel speed in the school zone, the volume of traffic, the frequency and degree of school-zone speed-limit violations, and the frequency of crashes within the school zone. This is used to estimate how many crashes would be prevented by automated speed enforcement. If it is estimated that automated speed enforcement would reduce the number of school-zone crashes by at least one crash per year, or reduce the risk of fatal crashes by 50% or more, then the engineering department will recommend that automated speed enforcement be implemented for that school zone. 

Photo enforcement for the regulatory speed limit is continuously active – the 30 mph speed limit is enforced all day, every day of the year. The enforcement hours for the 20 mph school zone speed limit are the same as the school zone flasher hours. In Kenmore, all school zones (with or without photo enforcement) have the following schedule for school zone active hours:

               AM: Starts 75 minutes before the first bell, ends 15 minutes after the first bell

               PM: Starts 15 minutes before the end of classes, ends 75 minutes after classes are out

We do this for a few reasons:

• One hour before school and one hour after school covers almost all regularly scheduled school activities that happen on school days.

• An additional fifteen minutes on either end of those one-hour periods covers the time spent actually walking to or from school and is also there for parents who walk with their kids.

The City of Kenmore determined school zone hours through discussions with Northshore School District and Kenmore schools. The schedule was set to address the following needs:

• All schools have activities on campus during the hour before and after school (e.g. free breakfast, sports programs)

   

• 15 minutes is added to the outside of the hour to cover time spent commuting

   

• 15 minutes is added inside the school day to cover late arrivals and parents walking to and from school after drop off or before pickup

The school zone schedule is not set to cover only the period of time when the highest number of students are walking to and from school, but instead the schedule is set to carve out time when parents know that their kids are supported by a safer traffic environment even when schedules demand flexibility.

The short answer is no: if you are already in the intersection when the light turns red that is not a red light violation and it will not trigger the camera.

A red light violation is when the driver faced with a red light fails to stop before entering the intersection, and so the red light camera only detects violations when drivers enter the intersection after the light has already changed. If you are partially or entirely within the intersection (or even stuck in the intersection because traffic is backed up) when the light turns red you will be able to continue through and exit the intersection without risk of triggering the camera. Additionally, all violations detected by the camera will be reviewed by Kenmore police officers personally – if there is an occasion when the camera triggered and recorded what it expected to be a violation, but the police officer determines that no violation occurred, then there will be no ticket issued to that driver. All tickets issued are ultimately on the judgement of Kenmore police officers, the same officers who would be issuing those tickets in person.

Although speeding and red light violations are typically moving violations, state law does not classify them as moving violations when they are detected by photo enforcement, and so they will not appear on your driving record, and will not be reported to insurance companies.

The camera flash is the result of the system recording a license place photo when a possible violation is detected, but not every possible violation is determined to be an actual violation.

We make every effort to have the school zone flashers and the photo enforcement system consistent with each other, but occasionally changes to the school schedule (such as changes related to snow days or special events) may result in the systems being out of sync. When this happens, there may be a period of time where the photo enforcement system is detecting speeds above 20 mph even though the school zone flashers are not on - when this is the case, no fines will be issued for speeds which exceed the school zone speed limit but not the regulatory speed limit.

All events detected as possible violations are reviewed by police, and if for any reason the system detects a possible violation but the police determine that no violation occurred, no fine will be issued.

Photo enforcement for the regulatory speed limit is continuously active – the 30 mph speed limit is enforced all day, every day of the year.

The KAPE system detects school zone speeding when the school zone flashers are on, but when the school zone is not active, the KAPE system still detects violations of the 30 mph speed limit.

We are all equal in the eyes of the traffic camera. There is a great deal of conversation going on around traffic stops right now, and many agree that fewer traffic stops would be better. Photo enforcement allows for the enforcement benefit to continue while removing the need for a traffic stop in order to issue the notice of infraction.

Violations detected by photo enforcement are still reviewed by a police officer before a notice of infraction is issued, but the review is done without any identifying information, which is another requirement of the RCW.

This allows for consistent, rules-based enforcement, which can remove doubt about fair treatment for drivers who receive a notice of infraction.

If you are no longer able to retrieve mail from the address indicated on your vehicle registration, please reach out to the customer service line for our photo enforcement contractor: 1-866-790-4111 The customer service agent will be able to determine if a notice of infraction (NOI) was issued for your vehicle, and help route the NOI to the correct mailing address. Please note that possible violations detected by our traffic safety cameras may take a few days to complete review by our Kenmore Police, and this information may not be immediately available to customer service agents.

If you no longer have the notice of infraction, please reach out to the customer service line for our photo enforcement contractor:                      1-866-790-4111

If you receive a warning in the mail, there is no response required and there is no fine to pay. If you have any questions about why you received a warning, or how photo enforcement warnings are processed, you can reach out to our Photo Enforcement customer service center at 1-866-790-4111 between 5:00 AM and 5:00 PM, excluding holidays or weekends. For more general questions, comments, or concerns about the Kenmore Automated Photo Enforcement (KAPE) program, please use our Report a Concern service on the Kenmore Website.