Auburn reports sharp drop in school‑zone speeding after cameras; council to consider code update and limited non‑school enforcement

Public Works staff told the Auburn City Council study session on June 23 that automated camera enforcement in school zones has produced large behavioral changes and that state law revisions now allow limited use of cameras outside school zones.

In 2024, Auburn’s automated school‑zone program issued roughly 23,000 citations after expanding to 12 cameras installed across eight school zones, Public Works Director Eric Young said. Staff said compliance in those monitored school zones fell from a baseline noncompliance of roughly 20% (before cameras) to under 2% by year‑end 2024.

Key figures and program operations Assistant Director and city engineer Jacob Sweeting and staff presenter Kaitlyn summarized the program history: the city studied 28 school speed zones in 2022, adopted a school‑zone photo enforcement program in early 2023 through an agreement with vendor Bear Mobility, adopted ordinance 6868 to modify Auburn City Code (ACC) 10.42, then deployed the first five cameras in May 2023 and a second set that brought the total to 12 in September 2023.

Staff reported 14,000 citations in…