Last week, the Seattle Police Aggressive Drivers Response Team was out enforcing the bus lane on the West Seattle Bridge during the Alaskan Way Viaduct closure. This week, they’re back to speed enforcement (among other things), with 4 West Seattle school zones on the latest roundup list, plus Highland Park Way (including a ticket for 51 mph in a 30 zone) and Admiral Way (with one for 52 in a 30 zone). See the full list on the SPD Blotter site, here.
Good to hear about all of this important work our law enforcement officers are working on. Those coffers won’t fill themselves up!
I LOVE that our police officers are working on the agressive driving in West Seattle. There are several areas that are very dangerous. How much faster does someone need to get to the next stop light? I live on a very busy street and I would GLADLY host an officer in my driveway to help remind people to go the speed limit. Thank you officers!
Good Job SPD!!.. Too many crazy drivers in our neighborhood and they need to slow down before they kill someone… You gals and guys rock!!(the SPD that is not the crazy drivers)
I hit 52 down highland park hill. On my bike.
Can I have a ticket?
Aggressive driving in Seattle? More like passive-aggressive…
…I hope they also pull over the people going 28 in a 30 with their turn signal stuck on and their jacket hanging out of their car door.
VeloNut, a cyclist did get a warning (but not a ticket) a few months back for speeding on Admiral Way. Be careful what you wish for!
https://westseattleblog.com/2011/07/west-seattle-speeders-spd-stops-a-42-mph-bicyclist
BTW cyclist may have been going uphill.
dude… I remember when those hills were 45! 30mph doesn’t feel right on my car. The RPM’s are either too high or too low! it SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS! But I still do it cause I have a perfect driving record and I want to keep it that way.
Wouldn’t it be cool if it was 45 up and 30 down. Now that would make sense!
This is good news, however I have a question regarding school zones. The signs say that the speed limit is 20 “when lights are flashing or when children are present”. Some municipalities interpret this to mean whenever school is in session – regardless whether you can see any children or flashing lights! I don’t have kids and have no idea of when school hours are or what is the schedule. How does Seattle interpret these signs? Were those school zone tickets issued done while the lights were flashing or at other times? Thanks much!
Ricky–oh, horrors! A whole 2 mph below the limit. Let’s see: if you traveled the entire length of the peninsula at 30 instead of 28, you’d arrive at your destination less than one minute sooner.
I’ve certainly traveled 28 in a 30 zone, when I felt the situation for any reason warranted. Sometimes, what I’m seeing might not be obvious to the car behind.
Perhaps you are unaware that the speed limit is actually an upper limit, not a lower limit. This means it’s illegal to exceed it, but not to stay below it, especially by such a trivial amount. The reason for this is that, while speeding causes more accidents, more injuries, and more deaths, a small amount under the limit does not.
Ridiculous. Tell me why the speed limit on admiral way coming up from the bridge is 30, with residences on one side of the street, and it’s 35 on 35th with houses on both sides?
This might be a good time to remind everyone to TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS. Every day I see several dozen cars on my 22 mile commute without headlights in the early morning and late afternoon. It’s gray and wet and gloomy and foggy and at 7:30 in the morning it is still dark enough that your gray and black and dark cars can’t be seen. And enough with just parking lights. By law, parking lights only are for parked cars. If you think you need parking lights on to be seen, you need your headlights. Parking plus fog lights do not equal headlights.
Great point, Mike! (FWIW: I was not paying attention going UP admiral and receive a $129 ticket for doing 40 in a 30. No excuses, of course, but I never, never go that fast up or down the hill simply based on knowing SPD uses it as a revenue trap….er, speed trap.)
I was wondering the other day how much revenue the city receives from tickets and how much does it cost the city to enforce laws. Not sure why I was thinking this but it would be interesting to know.
I go up Admiral Way in the morning and down in the late afternoon every week day, during commute time. I have not seen SPD there since early last Spring. How come there is no speed enforcement during the busy times of the day? Perhaps it is easier to catch speeders during the less busy times? Too much trouble to patrol during commute time. Just wondering.
They should sit out on 35th Avenue any time of day. They’d probably earn enough money to fund the dept for a month. Especially during school reduced speed limits for the Catholic school there. Most people don’t even take their feet off the accelerator in that 20mph zone.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/2011/04/20/where-does-the-money-from-traffic-tickets-go-2/
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