Issaquah, WA Mobility & Curb Rules: Red-Light Cameras (2026)

Chapter 10.42 of the Issaquah Municipal Code is the automated enforcement chapter. Section 10.42.010 limits what the cameras detect to stoplight violations and school speed zone violations, and limits where they operate to arterial intersections and school speed zones only. Cameras can photograph only the vehicle and its license plate and only while an infraction is occurring, and the pictures cannot reveal the face of the driver or passengers. The City must sign every camera location so a driver knows he or she is entering a zone enforced by a camera. The code authorizes the program and sets those limits; it does not list camera locations.

Notice and proof follow a fixed path. Under 10.42.020, a notice of infraction is mailed to the registered owner within 14 days of the violation, or to a renter within 14 days of establishing the renter's name and address. A rental car business gets written notice first and has 18 days to send a sworn statement naming the driver or renter, a sworn statement that it cannot tell, or to pay the penalty. The officer or trained Police Department civilian who issues the notice attaches a certificate that is prima facie evidence of the facts in it. Under 10.42.030 the recipient can respond by mail or request a hearing. Under 10.42.040 the registered owner is presumed to be the person in control, and that presumption can be overcome only by a statement under oath that the vehicle was stolen or in the care, custody, or control of someone else. Under 10.42.050, these infractions are not part of the owner's driving record and are processed in the same manner as parking infractions.

The school zone speed limit itself is in 10.24.030: 20 miles per hour in a posted school or playground zone, which can extend 300 feet from the property border, effective during the hours on the sign on days when school is in session. Ordinance 3151 of 2026 amended 10.42.010, 10.42.020 and 10.24.030.