Simply put, a red light violation is any time you have a steady  or flashing red signal, whether round or arrow, and you fail to COMPLETELY stop the movement of your vehicle prior to crossing the stop line. All intersections that are monitored by this program have thick painted white stop lines prior to the marked crosswalks. For the complete law, click on the following link:      Revised Code of Washington 46.61.050 

The infraction is issued against the car's registered owner, like a parking ticket, so your insurance rates and driver's license WILL NOT be affected.  However, if you fail to pay the fines and/or respond to the court in the time allowed, the Department of Licensing can hold your vehicle tabs until the fine and all related late fees are paid.

Not necessarily...There are two images required to enforce a red light citation.  The first image is as the vehicle comes to the stop line at an intersection.  The second is as the vehicle goes through the intersection.  If your vehicle approaches the intersection at a certain speed, the camera will take the first picture in anticipation that you'll run the red light.  However, if you come to a COMPLETE stop, you will not receive a citation.  The data collection is the automated part of the system.  After the data is collected, several different people view the information to determine whether or not it is a good violation prior to it getting sent to the police department for final approval.  The camera does not make the decision whether or not to cite a vehicle, an actual officer does.

The camera system used by American Traffic Solutions has three basic components: a high resolution camera for taking still color photos, a video camera that provides a broader view of the offending vehicle and any other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists in the intersection, and a vehicle sensing device that activates the still cameras and captures video of approaching vehicles that the system “predicts” will violate a red signal.

Photographic and video images of violation events are sent electronically from the traffic safety camera system to the ATS data center where they are reviewed against criteria established by the Spokane Police Department. Events that clearly are not violations are rejected at the data center. Trained officers in the SPD Traffic Section, who authorize issuance of citations for those deemed in violation, review events that appear to meet SPD criteria.  Click on the link below for an illustrated version of this explanation.

View Images

This is a safety program. Automated safety systems have been shown to reduce red-light violations and intersection crashes. Numerous studies throughout the U.S. and worldwide, as well as the experience of many other cities, indicate significant decreases in red-light running violations and collisions after cameras were installed. Often times, a spillover effect results from automated enforcement: other intersections not monitored by automated enforcement also see a decrease in violations and accidents because of the presence of enforcement in other areas of the community.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

“Cameras have been shown to substantially reduce red light violations. Institute evaluations in Fairfax, Virginia, and Oxnard, California, showed that camera enforcement reduced red light running violations by about 40 percent. In addition to reducing red light running at camera-equipped sites, violation reductions in both communities carried over to signalized intersections not equipped with red light cameras, indicating community-wide changes in driver behavior. An Institute evaluation of red light cameras in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, found that after red light violations were reduced by 36 percent following increased yellow signal timing, the addition of red light cameras further reduced red light violations by 96 percent.”

In a study completed by AAA, crashes cost American drivers more than $160 billion per year. In Spokane specifically, research showed 4,681 injuries in 2007 with a cost of $429 million to the community, averaging $975 per person in Spokane County.

Right now, we have fifteen cameras monitoring ten intersections.  One camera can cover up to four lanes of travel in one direction.

Our current approaches are as follows:

North and southbound Division St. at Francis Ave.

Northbound Hamilton St. at Mission Ave.

Southbound Browne St. at Sprague Ave.

Northbound Freya St. at Third Ave.

West and southbound Second Ave. at Thor St.

Eastbound Wellesley Ave. at Ash St.

Northbound Division St. at Sprague Ave.

Southbound Maple St. at 2nd Ave.

Westbound 2nd Ave. at Walnut St.

Southbound Browne St. at 3rd Ave.

Log on to www.ViolationInfo.com. To log on to the site you must enter the Notice Number and the PIN Number located at the top right of your Notice of Violation. 

You may also access the website at a kiosk in the Public Safety Building, 1100 W. Mallon Ave., Spokane, WA 99260. For further questions or information, you can email inquiries to photored@spokanepolice.org or call (509) 625-4181. 

Hearings are held on Thursdays starting at 1:30pm. Hearings last from 10 to 15 minutes and will be scheduled accordingly.

Images of your vehicle were captured and recorded by an Automated Intersection Safety System. You can review your images and video of the actual occurrence online. The images and video were reviewed by several qualified technicians and finally by the Spokane Police Department before the alleged civil infraction was affirmed and mailed to you as the registered owner. You have the option of contesting the Notice of Violation by requesting in writing an administrative hearing, at which time you may discuss the validity of the images and video captured on the date and time detailed on the Notice of Violation. 

If you look at the front of the Notice of Violation – at the paragraph under the close-up of your license plate – the Spokane Police Department states in the first sentence that the Automated Intersection Safety System was operating correctly at the time of this violation.

City of Spokane has contracted with American Traffic Solutions Inc. to provide the red-light camera enforcement program. ATS will install and maintain all equipment related to this program and process all violations before forwarding the data to the Spokane Police Department for their review and issuance. More information about ATS is available here.

There are three options.

1. Pay the fine:

• Pay Online Logon to www.ViolationInfo.com by entering your Notice number and Pin number shown in the red box on the front right of your notice. Click the Pay button. There is a convenience fee of $4.00 that will be assessed at the time of payment.
• Pay by mail Mail your check or money order to:
  City of Spokane
  Photo Enforcement Program
  P.O. Box 742503
  Cincinnati, OH 45274-2503
• Pay by Credit Card Call toll free 1-866-790-4111 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST. There is a convenience fee of $4.00 that will be assessed at the time of payment.

2. Ask for a Hearing:

You must request an adjudicative hearing in writing before the due date listed on the top and bottom right of your Notice of Violation. Remove the coupon located at the bottom of the Notice of Violation, sign the back and mail it in the enclosed envelope.  You can chose to either contest or mitigate and both of these can be done by mail or in person.  Mitigation means that you admit to the infraction but want to explain the circumstances and request a reduced fine.  Contesting the citation means you contest the fact the violation occurred.

3. Submit an Affidavit stating you were not driving the car:

You may only submit a Affidavit of Non-liability if at the time of the violation one of the following was true:

• Vehicle was stolen (must provide police report)
• Vehicle was sold (must provide valid proof of sale)
• Your company is in the business of leasing or renting vehicles and the vehicle was leased or rented at the time of the violation (must provide lease or rental agreement)

You may obtain an Affidavit of Non-liability by visiting www.ViolationInfo.com . This affidavit must be filled out accurately and in its entirety, it must be notarized, and all submitted paperwork must be postmarked by the due date for the original notice. Mail the Declaration and pertinent information to: City of Spokane, Violation Processing, PO Box 12129, Scottsdale, AZ 85267-2129. 

You can call (509) 625-4181 or email inquiries to photored@spokanepolice.org