Scofflaws are common and enforcement difficult in the 40 miles of surface street bus-only lanes in King County, Washington. Transit officials are hoping cameras can help fill the gap.
The city of Seattle and King County Metro would like to use automated cameras to enforce bus-only lanes, reports David Gutman.
"The city now uses cameras to enforce red-light running and school-zone speeding (those cameras issued nearly 106,000 tickets in 2017), but it needs new permission from the state Legislature to use cameras for transit-lane enforcement," according to Gutman.
A bill requesting permission for camera enforcement of bus lanes stalled in the State legislature in 2018. "Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, the bill’s lead sponsor, says he’ll try again in 2019," according to Gutman. "Fitzgibbon’s bill would allow transit-lane enforcement cameras on up to three bus routes, in Seattle only. For the first violation, drivers would get a warning in the mail. A $136 fine would come with the second violation."
Read the full story: Unclog the bus lane? Seattle wants to use automated cameras to ticket transit-lane cheaters
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