5530-S2

AN ACT Relating to automated traffic enforcement systems; amending RCW 46.63.030; and adding new sections to chapter 46.63 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 46.63.030 and 1995 c 219 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A law enforcement officer has the authority to issue a notice of traffic infraction:

(a) When the infraction is committed in the officer's presence, except as provided in section 2 of this act;

(b) When the officer is acting upon the request of a law enforcement officer in whose presence the traffic infraction was committed; or

(c) If an officer investigating at the scene of a motor vehicle accident has reasonable cause to believe that the driver of a motor vehicle involved in the accident has committed a traffic infraction.

(2) A court may issue a notice of traffic infraction upon receipt of a written statement of the officer that there is reasonable cause to believe that an infraction was committed.

(3) If any motor vehicle without a driver is found parked, standing, or stopped in violation of this title or an equivalent administrative regulation or local law, ordinance, regulation, or resolution, the officer finding the vehicle shall take its registration number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify its user, and shall conspicuously affix to the vehicle a notice of traffic infraction.

(4) In the case of failure to redeem an abandoned vehicle under RCW 46.55.120, upon receiving a complaint by a registered tow truck operator that has incurred costs in removing, storing, and disposing of an abandoned vehicle, an officer of the law enforcement agency responsible for directing the removal of the vehicle shall send a notice of infraction by certified mail to the last known address of the registered owner of the vehicle. The officer shall append to the notice of infraction, on a form prescribed by the department of licensing, a notice indicating the amount of costs incurred as a result of removing, storing, and disposing of the abandoned vehicle, less any amount realized at auction, and a statement that monetary penalties for the infraction will not be considered as having been paid until the monetary penalty payable under this chapter has been paid and the court is satisfied that the person has made restitution in the amount of the deficiency remaining after disposal of the vehicle.

(5) Any notice regarding a traffic infraction issued based on information obtained from an automated traffic enforcement system and mailed to the registered owner is effective notwithstanding the owner's failure to receive the notice.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 46.63 RCW to read as follows:

(1)(a) A pilot program for the use of automated traffic enforcement systems to enforce red light and railroad crossing violations when a law enforcement officer is not present is hereby created. The program shall be conducted in two counties and three cities.

(b) The pilot program shall run between July 1, 1996, and July 1, 1998. Each participating law enforcement agency may not operate more than three automated traffic enforcement devices, without an officer present, at the same time.

(c) A law enforcement agency may only participate in the pilot program if its local legislative body first enacts an ordinance allowing for the use of an automated traffic enforcement system and setting restrictions.

(d) The pilot program shall be conducted in the first two counties that enact enabling ordinances, and in the first three cities that enact enabling ordinances, except that one of the three cities must have a population exceeding one hundred fifty thousand.

(2) Renting and leasing companies, and businesses with company vehicles, are not responsible for infractions issued by automated traffic enforcement systems to lessees or employees.

(3) The registered owner of a vehicle is only responsible for infractions that occur when he or she was the person operating the vehicle at the time the infraction was committed. If the person issued a notice of infraction resulting from the use of an automated traffic enforcement system chooses to contest the issuance of the traffic infraction by refuting that he or she was the person operating the vehicle at the time the infraction was committed, he or she may sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury that he or she was not the person operating the vehicle at the time the infraction was committed.

(4) Nothing in this section affects law enforcement's current ability to use automated devices when an officer is present.

(5) "Automated traffic enforcement system" means photographic equipment linked to a violation detection system that synchronizes the taking of a photograph with the occurrence of a traffic violation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 46.63 RCW to read as follows:

No traffic infraction citation based on information obtained from an automated traffic enforcement system may be alleged at any time against a registered owner when, as a result of information obtained from an automated traffic enforcement system operated by the city or county: (1) The registered owner has previously been issued a citation by the same jurisdiction alleging an infraction of the same provision of state or local law; and (2) the registered owner has not received notice of the previous alleged infraction.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 46.63 RCW to read as follows:

Law enforcement agencies may only use automated traffic enforcement systems to enforce speeding violations under the following conditions:

(1) An automated traffic enforcement system must be operated by a law enforcement agency in a law enforcement vehicle plainly marked with emergency lights and the agency shield or emblem on the exterior of the vehicle; and

(2) The local law enforcement agency shall plainly mark the locations where the automated traffic enforcement system is used by placing signs on street locations that clearly indicate to a driver that he or she is entering a zone enforced by an automated traffic enforcement system.