EVERETT — The city of Edmonds issued 215 warning letters to drivers from April 10 to 17, just weeks after launching its new red-light camera program.
The two cameras — one at the intersection of 220th Street Southwest and Highway 99 and the other at the intersection of 100th Avenue West and Edmonds Way — picked up 535 violations. Of those, 320 were either rejected or are yet to be processed or reviewed, said Edmonds Police Cmdr. Josh McClure.
The city is currently in its warning period, so any violators will receive a warning letter and no citation. After May 7, drivers will receive a $145 citation if their vehicle is captured not stopping or not coming to a complete stop before turning right at a red light.
“Nobody’s getting any violations at this point,” McClure said. “This is a really good opportunity for us to educate the public and say, ‘Hey, look, these things are active, we want you to know that they’re recognizing red-light-running behavior, and we want you to change your behavior because this is about traffic safety.’”
At the current rate, the two cameras in Edmonds would result in about 11,180 citations per year.
“That’s why they were identified as places to put cameras because the research supported that those two were going to have a number of violations,” McClure said.
In Lynnwood, the city’s red-light camera with the most activity — at 196th Street and Alderwood Mall Parkway — resulted in 14,323 citations in 2023. The next highest resulted in 4,535 citations.
McClure said processing red-light camera violations could be a “significant lift” for the police department. In March, Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen proposed more than $885,000 in cuts to the police department staff as part of addressing the city’s budget deficit. The cuts were a mix of retirements, resignations, workforce reductions and removing a vacant position. The police department proposed an additional $230,000 in command staff reductions.
“Those things have impacted us in terms of a city, so it will be a little bit of a stretch,” McClure said.
Interim Police Chief Rod Sniffen is working on a plan to address red-light camera violations using the department’s existing staff and resources. Last week, the department trained multiple staff members to help process violations, McClure said.
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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