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Public Works outlines phased expansion of automated enforcement; staff to collect speed data and run equity analyses
Summary
Public Works presented a plan to expand automated enforcement (speed cameras and other camera types), using crash-weighted corridor analysis and state-mandated equity reviews. Staff aim to begin camera activations in late Q1 2026 and said net program revenues must be reinvested into traffic safety under state law.
Public Works staff on Oct. 22 briefed the Infrastructure Planning and Sustainability Committee on a proposed expansion of Tacoma's automated enforcement program, outlining a data-driven method for identifying new speed-camera locations, financial rules under state law and planned equity analyses.
Carrie Wilhelm, a Public Works lead on the effort, said the focus of the first phase will be speed cameras because they offer the greatest safety impact and align with crash data. The staff methodology uses Washington State Department of Transportation crash records from 2020'25, assigns higher weights to fatal and serious-injury crashes, and analyzes concentrations along corridors by dividing them into one-tenth-mile segments to pinpoint where cameras are likely to be most effective.
"On average 88 percent of drivers who receive a citation do not reoffend," Wilhelm said, citing peer-city findings and local program results as evidence that automated enforcement changes behavior. Staff noted an initial evaluation of the Bay Street speed camera showed a sharp…
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