The City of Tacoma has established an unprecedented cap on automated speed enforcement citations, restricting mailed tickets to a daily lottery of 100 randomly selected vehicle owners per camera after newly deployed units logged nearly 400,000 speeding infractions during their first month of operation.
City officials initially projected that automated speed cameras would achieve the same voluntary speed reductions observed near local elementary schools and the Bay Street pilot corridor.
The resulting mechanism, dubbed by regional motorists as a traffic enforcement lottery, ensures that fewer than two percent of eligible speeders receive the standard $145 civil penalty on any given weekday.
During the 2024 legislative session, state lawmakers approved House Bill 2384, codifying expansive revisions to RCW 46.63.170 to authorize automated speed safety cameras beyond traditional school walk zones.
However, safety advocates argue that a predictable citation lottery undermines the primary deterrent purpose of automated enforcement.
Following nearly 400,000 recorded infractions in 30 days along Norpoint Way and Marine View Drive, the City of Tacoma has instituted a 100-ticket daily lottery per camera due to vendor and police processing limits.