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![handle is hein.sag/sagwa0118 and id is 1 raw text is: AGO 2011 No. 1 - August 31, 2011
| | Attorney General of Washington
TRAFFIC INFRACTIONS-SCHOOL PROPERTY-FINES-Application 01 Statute Doubling
Monetary Penalty For Speeding In A School Or Playground Speed Zone
RCW 46.61.440(3), which requires doubling the monetary penalties in a school or play-ground speed
zone, applies to iniractions committed in violation ol both RCW 46.61.440(1) and RCW 46.61.440(2).
August 31, 2011
Jeff Hall
State Court Administrator
Administrative Office of the Courts
1206 Quince Street SE Cite As:
Olympia, WA 98504-1170 AGO 2011 No. 1
Dear Administrator Hall:
By letter previously acknowledged, you have requested our opinion on the following question:
Does the doubling ol monetary penalties pursuant to RCW 46.61.440(3) apply to speeding in a
school or playground crosswalk and speeding in a school or playground speed zone?
BRIEF ANSWER
The doubling of monetary penalties applies to both speeding in a school or playground crosswalk (RCW
46.61.440(1)) and speeding in a school or playground speed zone (RCW 46.61.440(2)), pursuant to RCW
46.61.440(3). Although the doubling of monetary penalties in subsection RCW 46.61.440(3) refers to a school or
playground speed zone, review of the session law amending this statute to add subsection (2) shows that the
phrase school or playground speed zone includes speed zones described in both subsections (1) and (2) of this
statute.
ANALYSIS
RCW 46.61.440 sets forth maximum speed limits when passing schools and playgrounds, and also provides
that monetary penalties for violating certain speed restrictions are doubled. The sections of that statute relevant to
your question are provided here:
loriginal page 2]
(1) Subject to RCW 46.61.400(1), and except in those instances where a lower maximum lawful
speed is provided by this chapter or otherwise, it shall be unlawful for the operator of any vehicle to operate
the same at a speed in excess of twenty miles per hour when operating any vehicle upon a highway either
inside or outside an incorporated city or town when passing any marked school or playground crosswalk
when such marked crosswalk is fully posted with standard school speed limit signs or standard playground](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagwa0118&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)