Squeaky Supports BI’s School-Zone Speed Camera Program

To the Bainbridge Island City Council, City Administration, and Community:

Squeaky Wheels strongly supports Bainbridge Island moving forward with a school-zone speed camera program.

Children walking and biking to school deserve streets where the posted speed limit is more than a suggestion. A driver traveling too fast through a school zone has less time to react and increases both the likelihood and severity of a crash. We should use every practical tool available to make these locations safer.

Automated speed enforcement is one of those tools—and it is not new, experimental, or unusual.

Seattle already does this—and the results are compelling

Seattle has been using fixed cameras to enforce its 20-mph school-zone speed limit since 2012. The program has now expanded to 37 school zones. The cameras operate when the school-zone flashing beacons are active, targeting enforcement specifically for the periods when students are arriving at or leaving school.

Seattle reports substantial safety improvements at locations with school-zone speed cameras:

• 71% fewer crashes in areas where school speed-zone cameras are active;

• 64% fewer daily traffic violations per school speed-zone camera location; and

• 95% of people who receive and pay a ticket do not receive another citation at the same camera location.

That last statistic is particularly important. The goal of a safety camera is not to generate tickets. The goal is to change behavior.

When people slow down, the program is working.

Seattle's experience also demonstrates that automated enforcement can be integrated into a broader traffic-safety strategy that includes sidewalks, crossings, bicycle infrastructure, traffic calming, education, and other investments. Seattle describes its traffic safety cameras as one component of its Vision Zero effort to reduce serious injuries and traffic deaths.

Bainbridge Island should be able to use the same evidence-based approach.

Privacy concerns deserve clear answers—not speculation

We understand why some community members have questions about cameras and privacy. Those questions should be answered directly and transparently.

But a school-zone speed camera is not a general-purpose surveillance camera.

Under Washington law, photographs and personally identifying information collected through automated traffic safety cameras are restricted to the enforcement purposes authorized by law and may not be retained longer than necessary for those purposes.

Seattle's school-zone cameras provide a useful real-world example of how this works. The cameras are activated only when school-zone beacons are flashing. They measure a vehicle's speed, and when a violation is detected, photographs of the vehicle and license plate are associated with the notice of infraction. The system is designed around traffic enforcement—not continuous monitoring of people in public spaces.

Seattle also describes its traffic-camera program as subject to privacy protections and legal requirements governing the use of camera information.

Bainbridge Island should adopt clear privacy safeguards as part of the program—but privacy concerns should not be allowed to obscure the limited, specific purpose of school-zone speed cameras: identifying vehicles that are exceeding the school-zone speed limit when children are present.

This is about changing behavior, not writing tickets

Squeaky Wheels supports the program because we want fewer speeding drivers—not more tickets.

The Seattle data strongly supports that distinction. Violations have declined substantially at camera locations, and the overwhelming majority of people who receive and pay a citation do not receive another citation at that same location.

That is exactly what successful traffic enforcement should accomplish.

A driver who slows down because they know a camera is present is still driving more safely.

A parent who feels comfortable allowing their child to walk or bike to school because vehicles are traveling at the posted speed is still benefiting from the program.

And a child who crosses the street without encountering a speeding vehicle is the outcome that matters most.

Speed cameras are most effective when their location is known to drivers. Clear warning signage ensures motorists fully comprehend camera placement, rather than encountering unexpected enforcement. Hiding equipment undermines public trust, transforming a valid traffic-calming measure into a perceived revenue scheme and fueling unnecessary community backlash.

Cameras belong alongside better infrastructure

Squeaky Wheels does not view speed cameras as an alternative to sidewalks, protected bicycle infrastructure, safer crossings, lighting, traffic calming, or other improvements.

We need all of these things.

Infrastructure takes time and resources to design and construct. Speed enforcement can address dangerous behavior now, while the City continues making longer-term investments in the built environment.

Let's focus on what we know

We know that speeding is dangerous.

We know that Washington law authorizes automated speed enforcement in school zones.

We know that Seattle has used school-zone speed cameras for more than a decade.

We know Seattle has expanded the program rather than abandoned it.

And we know Seattle reports significant reductions in crashes, violations, and repeat citations at camera locations.

Those facts make school-zone speed cameras worthy of strong support as part of Bainbridge Island's traffic-safety strategy.

Squeaky Wheels urges the City to move forward with a carefully designed, transparent, school-zone speed camera program and to measure its results publicly.

Our children should not have to rely on drivers voluntarily noticing a 20-mph sign and deciding to comply.

If the speed limit is 20 mph, it should be enforced.

And when enforcement can be accomplished consistently, transparently, and without requiring an officer to stop every speeding vehicle, it is a tool worth using.

The measure of success should be simple: fewer speeding vehicles, fewer crashes, and safer streets for children walking and biking to school.

That is a goal Squeaky Wheels is proud to support.

Sincerely,

Squeaky Wheels Board
Bainbridge Island, Washington