The bill does not allocate money to install speed cameras, but it establishes 10 streets as "restricted racing zones" and gives authority to the Seattle Department of Transportation to eventually install the cameras.
The vote comes on the heels of two violent episodes that involved street racing or speeding, including one that took place on a road along Alki Beach that could now see speed cameras as a result of the council's vote.
The zones, spread throughout the city, include portions of:
* West Marginal Way Southwest;
* Alki Avenue Southwest and Harbor Avenue Southwest, along Alki Beach;
* Rainier Avenue South;
* Martin Luther King Jr. Way South;
* Third Avenue Northwest;
* Seaview Avenue Northwest, near Golden Gardens;
* Sand Point Way Northeast;
* Roadways in Magnuson Park.
Councilmember Alex Pedersen, who sponsored the bill with Councilmember Lisa Herbold, said these streets have been identified as places where constituents have complained and where "city government departments have seen repeated reckless driving and speeding."
The bill originally included only streets in the West Seattle and Sand Point neighborhoods but was amended to add parts of South and Northwest Seattle.
Illegal street races in Seattle and in the region have sometimes ended in violence or injury.
During the full council meeting Tuesday, several West Seattle residents said in public comment that high-speed racing and stunt driving have made their neighborhoods more dangerous. They cited an incident nine days earlier, when a high-speed crash sent a woman's car into the water and the woman to the hospital.
Early Sunday, four people were shot at an illegal street racing event on Capitol Hill. Seattle police said "initial attempts to disband the crowd were met with resistance" before the shooting. Two other shootings, in Kent and Auburn, also occurred during illegal street races this year.
Pedersen wrote in an email after the meeting that additional locations can be included in the future.
"While it will not solve all the reckless driving problems, this technology is another tool in our tool belt to reduce collisions and save lives on some of our city's most dangerous roadways," he said during the meeting Tuesday.
The bill makes use of a recent state legislative change. In 2022, Washington state lawmakers voted to expand the use of automated speed cameras to include locally designated "restricted racing zones."
Automated traffic cameras have been used in Seattle for red light enforcement for nearly 20 years and in school zones more than 10 years. Last year, the Seattle Department of Transportation installed cameras and started issuing fines for people who block certain intersections or enter certain bus lanes.
Councilmember Kshama Sawant was the lone vote against the bill, citing concerns that speed cameras would not distinguish between those who are racing and those who are speeding a few miles above the limit and that speeding tickets disproportionately punish poor and working-class drivers.
In response, Herbold noted SDOT has said it could be possible to issue tickets only to those driving significantly above the speed limit in these zones, and that there will be more discussion as the department figures out how to move forward.
Before the speed cameras can be installed, a budget must be proposed and SDOT must put together a plan to implement them. The department will also have to conduct an analysis to address equity concerns around privacy and the potentially disproportionate effects of fines.
SDOT will choose where the cameras will be installed, and the Seattle Police Department will issue the citations. SDOT will discuss a timeline for implementation with the city's transportation committee on Aug. 1, Herbold and Pedersen said.
According to Herbold, street racers often move from place to place in the region and the Seattle Police Department, which has a shortage of officers, can only engage in high-speed pursuits under certain circumstances, making enforcement difficult.
The bill was unanimously voted out of the city's transportation and public utilities committee July 18. During the meeting, Pedersen described the bill as "an elegant enforcement elixir" that increases pedestrian safety while reducing the need for face-to-face interactions between drivers and police officers.
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