Seattle adding more red-light cameras

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Story Published: Jan 2, 2008 at 2:40 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jan 4, 2008 at 5:54 PM PDT

By KOMO Staff

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SEATTLE -- After a one-year test, the City of Seattle is planning to add 24 more cameras to catch drivers who run red lights.

The cameras snap a picture of your license plate if you run a light, and a few days later you'll get a ticket in the mail.

"These are not individuals who have just snuck into the intersection at the very last moment," said Seattle Police Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer. "They are substantially in the intersection. The light is clearly red."

The cameras have turned out to be quite the money maker, allowing the city to collect more than a million dollars in fines in the first year from the cameras at four intersections.

Mayor Greg Nickels says the program is about safety -- not making money.

"The key number to me is that it reduces those red light incidents by 50 percent," Nickels said. "So that's worth a lot, maybe not in monetary terms but it's worth allot in terms of safety."

But the mayor admits that had the revenue from the test period been lower, the expansion would have been slower.

A ticket for running a red light will cost you $124 in Seattle.

Where the new cameras are being installed:

North Seattle:

EB Northwest Market @ 15th Northwest
WB Northwest Market @ 15th Northwest
SB 15th Northwest @ Northwest 80th
SB Stone Way @ Northwest 40th
NB Aurora @ Northwest 85th
EB Northeast 80th @ Fifth Northeast
EB Northeast 45th @ Union Bay Place (“Five Corners”)
WB Northeast 45th @ Union Bay Place (“Five Corners”)
NB Northeast 45th @ Union Bay Place (“Five Corners”)

Central Seattle:

SB Sixth @ James
SB Fifth @ Spring
SB First @ Marion
NB Broadway @ Olive
EB Olive @ Broadway
SB Broadway @ Pine
SB Boren @ James
SB 23rd @ E John
NB Ninth @ James

South Seattle:

NB 14th South @ Cloverdale
EB Cloverdale @ 14th South
WB Avalon @ 35th Southwest
SB 35th Southwest @ Southwest Thistle
NB Rainier @ South Massachusetts
WB South McClellan @ Martin Luther King

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