MUKILTEO — Every car heading to Old Town passes Olympic View Middle School.
Many of them drive too fast.
Studies conducted for the city show four out of five drivers exceeded the 20 mph speed limit along Mukilteo Speedway in front of the school during afternoon school hours.
Compared with school zones throughout the city, Olympic View Middle School stood out.
“It’s a scary place and it’s hard for a lot of people roaring up the Speedway to realize they’re going through a school zone,” Randy Lord, City Council president, said Tuesday.
That’s why the council passed a plan on Monday to place traffic cameras along the Speedway in front of the school next September.
The council also approved installing two red-light cameras on the Speedway at Harbour Pointe Boulevard. Details on those are still being worked out.
The new get-tough approach is part of a city plan to crack down on speeding near the school and red-light-running on Mukilteo Speedway and at the intersection of Harbour Pointe Boulevard — the northern portion of the road closest to the water.
The council, however, wasn’t as united about the second part of that plan.
In fact, it took a tie-breaking vote by Mayor Joe Marine to approve the contract between the city and American Traffic Solutions Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., which already runs traffic cameras in Lynnwood.
When school starts next September, the 20 mph zone in front of Olympic View Middle School will be monitored by a special camera that snaps license plate photographs of vehicles that exceed the speed limit.
Police will review the photos and if they determine a law was broken, they’ll issue a $112 infraction that doesn’t affect the owner’s insurance. The city will pay American Traffic Solutions $4,750 a month to monitor the school zone.
The current penalty for violating school speed zones is more severe.
Drivers breaking the law now get citations for $189 for driving 5 mph above the limit and as much as $271 for driving 11 mph or more over the limit, Mukilteo Police Cmdr. Chuck Macklin said.
“The contract with American Traffic Solutions is a no-cost contract,” Macklin said. “So if the revenue generated from the infractions does not exceed the cost, then there’s zero cost to the city.”
When, and even if, new cameras will be installed at the Harbour Pointe Boulevard intersection is still up in the air, said Larry Waters, the city’s public works director.
That’s because the city is still negotiating details of the contract with both American Traffic Solutions and the Washington Department of Transportation, which owns the right of way along the Speedway, also known as Highway 525.
Some of the council members raised questions about the red-light cameras.
Councilman Tony Tinsley opposed the contract, saying he would have preferred separate votes on the school-zone cameras and red-light cameras.
“I was surprised, because I’d been firmly supportive before the study,” he said. “But when the data came back, it showed the problem wasn’t merely what people perceived … most violations were fast right turns.”
Marine said it’s better to install the cameras at Harbour Pointe Boulevard’s intersection with Mukilteo Speedway than beef up police enforcement.
“Where’s the officer going to sit?” he asked. “In a lane of traffic? On a motorcycle on the sidewalk? I just think it’s a very difficult thing for officers to try to enforce. You’re basically asking officers to sit at the intersections and run the red light to try to go after somebody. There’s a higher cost to do it where, quite frankly, cameras can.”
The City Council eventually took two votes on installing traffic cameras.
The first vote was on whether to allow cameras to be used at all. Council members Lord, Linda Grafer, Emily Vanderwielen and Tinsley voted in favor. Jennifer Gregerson and Richard Emery voted against.
The second vote was to approve a contract with ATS. Council members Lord, Grafer and Vanderwielen voted in favor. Tinsley, Gregerson and Emery vote against. Marine broke the tie. Councilman Kevin Stoltz did not attend.
Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com.
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