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Judge explains 'school walk zone' photo enforcement after multiple motorists contest tickets
Summary
At the Lake Forest Park Municipal Court July 23 infraction calendar, Judge Jennifer Grant clarified that 'school walk zones' are areas where photo enforcement of the posted speed limit operates 24/7 and distinguished them from active school zones that drop speed to 20 mph when beacons flash.
Lake Forest Park Municipal Court Judge Jennifer Grant spent part of the July 23 infraction calendar explaining how the city's photo-enforcement program treats so-called "school walk zones," after several people asked why tickets were issued outside typical school hours.
"A school zone is when the light is flashing," Judge Grant said. "When an active school zone is in effect, the speed limit drops to 20. In the school walk zone ... they're doing photo enforcement for speeding. But it's not a reduced speed — it's enforcing the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour, and that is taking place 24/7."
The explanation came during a contested-photo-ticket hearing when a defendant who identified herself as Miss Silva said her notice and video called the location a "school zone" and asked whether a Sunday ticket could apply. Grant told her the infraction code on the paperwork was a "school walk zone," a distinct category that the judge said the Legislature restructured in recent photo-enforcement changes.
Multiple defendants that day — including Kelly Billingsley, Latunga Tenji, Emile Buanga, Danny Fisher and Arch Butler — had photo-issued walk-zone or school-walk-zone citations and raised timing or signage questions in mitigation. Grant repeatedly noted that the flashing beacon creates the separate, reduced 20-mph school-zone rule but that the walk zone perimeter itself is enforced at the posted limit around the clock.
The judge also said signage exists along the corridor to indicate the school walk zone and that the legislative changes within the last year expanded or clarified categories for photo enforcement. "The legislature has created this last year, so k. Somewhat newer. They revamped the photo enforcement laws and restructured everything," she said.
Court staff told defendants they would mail mitigation orders and payment instructions to the addresses on file and that drivers could request hearings if they wanted a fuller evidentiary review.
The clarification sought by Miss Silva and other motorists resolved confusion for several people in the afternoon calendar but left practical next steps the same: those who accepted mitigation received reduced fines or payment plans; those who wanted a hearing were told how to request one.
