Automated photo enforcement in Federal Way serves two main purposes: 

• Automated photo enforcement has been shown to have a significant safety benefit. Reducing travel speeds has the effect of reducing the frequency and severity of crashes for all road users, and reducing the number of red light violations helps prevent the types of intersection crashes that often lead to the most severe injuries.
• According to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, automated photo enforcement cameras are an “effective and reliable technology to supplement more traditional methods of enforcement, engineering measures, and education to alter the social norms of speeding.” Jurisdictions that have implemented these cameras have reported crash reductions of up to 54% for all crashes and 48% for injury crashes on urban arterials.

Automated photo enforcement cameras are one component of Federal Way’s broader traffic safety strategy. The City of Federal Way is committed to improving roadway design, lowering speed limits where appropriate, and expanding public education as part of a Safe System approach to achieving Vision Zero.

Revenue generated for the City by automated photo enforcement is used to fund traffic and pedestrian safety infrastructure improvement and maintenance projects such as sidewalks, pavement preservation, intersection improvements, traffic calming, and other projects which improve multi-modal transportation or increase the availability and safety of alternative transportation modes. Automated photo enforcement means the cost of improving and maintaining the safety and operation of our transportation infrastructure is shared with road users whose behavior is responsible for increasing crash risk on Federal Way roads. 

Each of our automated photo enforcement sites is also a location where in-person enforcement by police officers has been used in the past, but the amount of in-person enforcement needed is not possible. Automated photo enforcement acts as a force multiplier, allowing a small number of officers to police a larger number of violations. Relying on automated photo enforcement in some parts of the City also frees up our police officers to perform other important duties during times they would have spent providing speed enforcement.

Pay Online

If you wish to pay online using Visa, Mastercard or Debit, please visit our online payment website.

Pay By Mail

Do not mail or drop off your payment directly to the court. Failure to follow these instructions will delay the process and result in default. Send a check or money order in U.S. Funds, payable to the City of Federal Way.

Please mail your payment to the following address: 

Federal Way Municipal Court
Photo Enforcement Program
P.O. Box 35131
Seattle, WA  98124-5131

Pay By Phone

Call 1-866-790-4111, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There may be a convenience fee. You may pay by credit card using this method.

Citation Reduction: Under Washington law, registered vehicle owners who receive public assistance under Title 74 RCW or participate in the Washington WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Program may qualify for a 50% reduction in the penalty for an automated traffic camera citation.

How to Dispute Your Citation:

If you believe your citation was issued in error, you have the right to request a hearing through the court rather than pay the fine.

There are two types of hearings:

Mitigation Hearing – You admit the violation occurred but want to explain the circumstances.

1. Hearing By Mail
2. Remote Zoom Hearing
3. Hearing In Person

Contested Hearing – You believe you did not commit the violation or have a valid defense.

1. Hearing By Mail
2. Remote Zoom Hearing
3. Hearing In Person

To request a hearing, fill out the Hearing Coupon, sign the back of your ticket and mail it to the address that appears on the Hearing Coupon that came with your ticket.

When the automated photo enforcement system detects a probable violation, the system records the event. Enforcement staff then review the photos and video to verify whether a violation occurred. They base their decision solely on the evidence captured by the camera. If they decide there was no violation, the system deletes the recording. If they confirm a violation a notice of violation is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.

By law, fines cannot “exceed the amount of a fine issued for other parking infractions within the jurisdiction.” Parking fines in Federal Way can be as much as $250, with an additional $200 assessment. The fine for red light violations is lowered to $145; the same amount charged if the citation was issued by an officer in your presence.

The fines in Federal Way for photo violations in school zones range from $223 to no more than $290 (excluding late fees).

Automated photo enforcement tickets do not count as moving violations under State law. Unlike citations issued by police officers, they won’t appear on your driving record and are not reported to insurance companies.

State law has built in safeguards for privacy and data protection. Automated enforcement camera systems are governed by RCW 46.63.220 which includes several key data privacy protections:

Image Restrictions: Cameras may only capture the vehicle and license plate—not faces of drivers or passengers

Data Use: Images and data are only for authorized city/county use, not public, and not admissible in unrelated court cases

Retention Limits: Data must be deleted when no longer needed for enforcement

No. All of our traffic signals' yellow light clearance times follow federal guidelines in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and are the same regardless of a red light camera is installed at an intersection or not. We did not reduce the yellow light times for the red light cameras.

Federal Way’s automated photo enforcement cameras differ from Flock cameras in many important ways.

Federal Way’s automated photo enforcement cameras will only take a photograph and retain video of a vehicle if the system detects a speeding or red-light violation. The video, photograph, and other relevant information is then sent electronically to the Federal Way police to review and determine whether a traffic violation has occurred. When your vehicle is photographed, only a view that includes the rear license plate is captured. Video is used for the sole purpose of helping police determine if a traffic violation occurred, such as showing a left turn with the red-arrow clearly visible or speeding while school-zone flashers are visibly active. By law, it’s prohibited for automated photo enforcement cameras to capture photographs that include the faces of vehicle drivers or passengers. Furthermore, law prohibits the use of the information captured by automated photo enforcement cameras for purposes outside of determining a traffic violation.  (See RCW 46.63.220.) 

"Flock Safety" cameras are a type of automated license plate reader (ALPR) system.  ALPRs, photograph passing vehicles to record their license plate number, make, model, color, and other visual characteristics which are then stored in a searchable database. Unlike automated photo enforcement cameras, ALPRs are used for any passing vehicle (not just when a violation is detected) and are intended exclusively for surveillance and criminal investigations.