Signed by Governor Jay Inslee

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes additional uses for automated traffic safety cameras for traffic congestion reduction and increased safety.

Highlights:

• Authorizes a city with a population larger than five hundred thousand to adopt an ordinance creating a pilot program authorizing automated traffic safety cameras to be used to detect one or more of the following violations (Sec. 1):

• Stopping when traffic obstructed violations;

• Stopping at intersection or crosswalk violations;

• Public transportation only lane violations; 

• Stopping or traveling in restricted lane violations; and 

• Stopping or parking violations at locations restricted for emergency response vehicle entry or exit or the boarding or disembarking of public transportation vehicles, including public ferries.

• Defines “public transportation vehicle” as any motor vehicle, streetcar, train, trolley vehicle, ferry boat, or any other device, vessel, or vehicle that is owned or operated by a transit authority or an entity providing service on behalf of a transit authority that is used for the purpose of carrying passengers and that operates on established routes (Sec. 1).

• Requires a warning notice with no penalty to be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle for a violation generated through the use of an automated traffic safety camera authorized in the above mentioned pilot program, from the effective date of this section until January 1, 2020 (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that starting January 1, 2020, a warning notice with no penalty will be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle for the first violation generated through the use of an automated traffic safety camera authorized in the above mentioned pilot program, though a notice of infraction will be issued for a second or subsequent violation (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that section 1 of this act will expire January 1, 2022 (Sec. 3).

Full Bill Text