Tickets fall with school zone speeds

By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

The school speed zone photo enforcement citation numbers appear to be moving in the right direction.

After a about 30 days of tickets being sent through the mail, drivers are cutting back on the accelerator, or simply avoiding school zones.

The program has not been especially popular with those receiving the $101 ticket, which is treated like a parking ticket and is not reported to the driver's or car owner's insurance company.

“I'm looking for a downward trend,” Councilman Mark Hamilton said at an Oct. 17 workshop. “If there isn't, that is a problem. I don't want the perception that Bonney Lake is the speed trap of the area.”

Hamilton noted the city had not even started the video enforcement program to ticket people running red lights on state Route 410.

The Washington State Department of Transportation officials must give the green light before enforcement can begin on a state highway.

Councilman Dave King said he had received some positive comments from citizens about the school zone enforcement, “but more (are) negative. We need to wait and see.”

Police Chief Mike Mitchell said 256 violations had been recorded from Oct. 4 to the 13th, a span of 10 days. Not all of those violations will be cited due to obscured license plates and other problems.

In the first 14 days of the program - when warnings were sent out rather than tickets - 3,000 violations were recorded.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.

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