Story Photos
 Monty Jones of American Traffic Solutions monitors radar and a camera from a laptop inside an ATS vehicle. Bill Wagner / Daily News file photo
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WSDOT ends I-5 speed-camera project near Chehalis
Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:52 AM PDT
By Andre Stepankowsky
Printable version
E-mail this articleSpeeders can breathe a little easier through Lewis County — not that authorities want them to.
The Washington State Department of Transportation Friday shut down its automated traffic safety cameras in the Centralia-Chehalis area of Interstate 5.
The agency started the pilot project in mid September, and in that time the speed enforcement cameras issued nearly 1,200 citations for $137 to speeders. That’s an average of 30 a day during the test period.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the program worked as intended: Drivers seem to have slowed down through the highway construction zone the cameras patrolled. But it will be several more weeks before WSDOT has hard data on whether the program worked, said agency spokeswoman Alice Finman.
“This project is all about safety and getting speeds down,” Finman said, calling lower speeds and decreased accidents “the real measure of success.”
She said WSDOT has not had a single report of a collision through the pilot test area during the time the cameras were deployed.
No information was available Wednesday on how many speeding tickets typically were written in the Chehalis area before the pilot project began. Nor were accident statistics for that stretch of road immediately available. An average of about 53,000 vehicles a day use I-5 in that area during the business week, according to state statistics.
The pilot project was the first of two the Legislature authorized. The next one, slated to start in the spring, will be elsewhere in the state, perhaps in the Olympia area, Finman said.
The cameras are mounted in an SUV. Radars set for a threshold speed trigger the cameras, which take a picture of the rear license plate of a vehicle. Although the SUV is manned, the whole process is automated.
WSDOT is ending the pilot project because, with the approach of winter, “a lot of on-road construction work, like striping, is limited at this time of year” and work in general slows down, though it does continue, Finman said.
Drivers may continue to see the SUV camera unit near Chehalis for another few weeks. However, it is just collecting traffic data, and all photo enforcement was complete as of Friday, according to WSDOT. Highway crews removed the “Speed Limit Photo Enforced” signs Wednesday.
The contractor provided the cameras to the state for free, Finman said.
While the cameras may be gone, roadway work continues in Chehalis and many other spots in Washington. WSDOT and the Washington State Patrol continue to urge drivers to be cautious in all work zones.
Between 2001 and 2006, work zone collisions in Washington increased by nearly 60 percent, from only 686 in 2001 to 1,097 in 2006, according to WSDOT. The top two reasons for work-zone crashes are speeding and inattentive driving.
The majority of work zone deaths and injuries are drivers and passengers — accounting for 99 percent of the total in 2006.
Related articles:
DOT construction zone speed cameras ready for action (Sept. 6)
WSDOT to use camera vehicle to catch construction-zone speeders (July 23)
luke the drifter wrote on Oct 29, 2008 4:38 PM:
Nice try Finman. Instead of blowing smoke up everyone's tailpipes, why not just say, "It was a big success, we cashed in on a quick $164,400. "
Atrucker wrote on Oct 29, 2008 4:53 PM:
From exit 57 to 88 it is smoky bear land.
There are so many fatal accidents through this area , it just does not make any sense. "
woah-woah-woah wrote on Oct 29, 2008 6:59 PM:
Blogger Jogger wrote on Oct 29, 2008 8:25 PM:
toledoone wrote on Oct 29, 2008 8:30 PM:
bozo wrote on Oct 29, 2008 9:10 PM:
1arealocal wrote on Oct 30, 2008 1:19 AM:
DUH wrote on Oct 30, 2008 6:20 AM:
Dudebro wrote on Oct 30, 2008 8:45 AM:
isnt the autobahn lower in fatalities yet in some areas the speeds are 100+
Lets get rid of speed limits entirely you want to go slow stay to the right. "
no one wrote on Oct 30, 2008 11:55 AM:
Beau Khaki wrote on Oct 30, 2008 1:32 PM:
ClearCut wrote on Oct 30, 2008 8:23 PM:
Anyway, a word for everyone but her - especially the holier-than-thou who think they're above all this: Get out your wallet! Assuming you occasionally venture outside of your neighborhood into unfamiliar territory, you need to buy a $300+ nav system to warn you when you're approaching a camera enforced location. Why?
The drivers in front of you will be exhibiting unexpected behavior, like slamming on their brakes on a brand new yellow, or because they have "local" knowledge that there's a speed camera there. The warning from the nav system will save you from rear-ending them - an accident for which the law would automatically hold you responsible.
Oh! Once you have your nav system, you will also need to spend some time each month downloading the database containing the newest locations - and of course you will need to pay for a subscription to that data. (You will also need to maintain the nav systems belonging to all your computer-illiterate friends and relatives.)
Have fun out there! NO ONE gets out of this for free.
CC "
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