No Mail from Fife

Every afternoon last week I checked my mailbox for an official-looking letter from Fife. On Sunday I learned that I won’t be getting any mail from the small city that straddles I-5 just east of Tacoma. And that’s a good thing.

Fife has red-light cameras. If you run a red light in an intersection monitored by a camera, you get a ticket in the mail for the traffic infraction. You can probably see where this post is headed.

On a foggy weekday morning a few weeks ago, I was on my way home after dropping off my nephew at SeaTac Airport. Rather than going the whole way on I-5, I decided to do some exploring. My route took me through Pacific, Milton, and, somewhat unwillingly, Fife, where I planned to get back on the interstate.

I’m pretty sure I ran a red light on Pacific Highway East within the city limits. At least I had that sinking feeling that happens when yellow changes to red sooner than it should and there’s no way to stop. I’m not a Fifer so I don’t know the locations of its red-light cameras. I just know it has several because of signs like the one shown in the photo. As I continued west, I tried to sort out what just happened. I remembered seeing the sign but not the bright flash when the camera fires.

My first thought was to go back to check how the cameras are set up. In Washington red-light cameras are typically stationed at right angles to each other at a crossroads intersection and monitor traffic in only two of the four possible directions. So I had a 50-50 chance of being lucky or being busted.

Rather than compounding the error I kept going. “I’ll tough it out,” I thought. “Either I will get a citation in the mail or I won’t.” The city’s web site wasn’t conclusive. It showed cameras at that intersection but wasn’t specific on locations.

My experience is that a red-light citation should arrive in a week to two weeks. I’m not a serial red-light runner, but I did get busted in Bremerton a few years ago. By the end of last week, I figured I was in the clear. But who knows, maybe the Fife cameras catch so many drivers that it takes longer. Perhaps I needed to wait a month.

Last Sunday I rode my bike on the Interurban trail east of I-5. This time I drove home through Fife on purpose, as careful as a student driver out for the first time. I got some good news when I reached the scene of the possible crime. The camera that monitors Pacific Highway East is pointed the opposite direction of the way I had been going.

There won’t be any mail from Fife.

Comment: I don’t mean to single out Fife. Dozens of cities in Washington have installed red-light cameras. Bremerton was an early adopter. Basically I don’t like the inconsistency. They should be installed everywhere or nowhere. The cameras seem to be more about revenue than safety. Having said that, I am more careful now at traffic signals. But maybe I’m just getting older.