Kenmore to expand road safety measures around school zones

The City of Kenmore is expanding its road safety measures around schools.

The change comes after what administrators say is “remarkable” success in photo-enforced school zones.

Currently, roads around Arrowhead and Kenmore elementary schools have the technology that tracks speed and snaps a photo of drivers going too fast during 20 mph school zone hours.

The Kenmore City Council said that in the past year, the number of drivers speeding during school zone hours has dropped from more than 95% to just 1.5%.

As a result, the council voted on Sept. 16 to expand the Kenmore Automated Photo Enforcement Program along with some changes.

Inglemoor High School will get photo enforcement equipment in its school zone, where the city says excessive speeding persists.

Photo enforcement will be in effect at all times in the camera-equipped school zones, even when the zone is “not active” with lights flashing during high-traffic hours. The speed limit when school zones are not active is 30 mph.

The fines for speeding in the photo-enforced school zones will increase incrementally over time to offset the costs of KAPE and pay for other traffic safety improvements.