By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald
Bonney Lake city staff and the Public Safety Committee are taking a close look at the good and bad surrounding the city's school speed zone photo enforcement program
The City Council approved a contract with Nestor Traffic Systems of Providence, R.I., which began the enforcement program in September 2006. The city pays the company $9,000 per month.
City officials have said the photo enforcement has worked well to slow traffic on Locust Avenue East and other streets around the schools, but the customer service from the Nestor has been a problem.
“We found we were not getting the customer support we wanted,” Councilman Phil DeLeo said. “But it did make a real difference in people speeding through school zones. That was the objective to get people educated about speeding through school zones.”
The main problem with the system, according to city officials, has been with Nestor sending notices for payment infractions after the citation had either been paid or ruled on by the city's municipal court.
In one case, a man's car was stolen and he received a citation dating to the period of time when the car was taken. The court dismissed the citation, but the man later received three delinquent notices for not paying the ticket.
City Administrator Don Morrison said he thought a system with a camera fixed on a pole might be better.
“That way you never know when it is on or off,” Morrison said.
The Nestor system used a camera mounted on a tripod, which was linked to a nearby van and computer system for recording license plates of speeding vehicles.
Mitchell said the program “has a lot of positive aspects, but with any new program things have to be improved on.”
The chief said he would like to see a system that works more directly with police officers and the city's speed trailers.
Morrison said since January the city has received about $212,000. From that total, city expenses include $9,000 per month to Nestor plus one court clerk and the expenses for a police officer.
Nestor had proposed putting photo enforcement system on intersections on state Route 410 to monitor drivers running red lights.
After further testing, the red light enforcement has been put on hold. Morrison said a second study did not justify adding the system, considering the cost and the amount of revenue it would bring into the city.
Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.
