“Big Brother” will soon be watching when drivers speed or run red lights in Issaquah.

The city council approved a measure Tuesday night that would allow the Issaquah Police Department to install automated traffic cameras on two Issaquah Streets.

A red-light camera will be placed at the intersection of Newport Way and State Route 900, and a second camera — this one to catch speeders — will be placed along Second Avenue Southeast, near Issaquah High School.

“I am delighted with this,” Councilman Fred Butler said. “Our children will be safer. … I do believe this will make our community safer, and is a positive step forward.”

The cameras will activate to take a photo when a car passes the stop line while the light is red or when a car is detected going more than seven miles over the speed limit.

The cameras will take photos of the back of the car, Police Chief Paul Ayers said.

“It doesn’t take a photo of the driver,” Ayers said. “The ticket goes to the registered owner.”

The program will not cost the city any money as the cameras are leased from American Traffic Solutions and the funding for the lease will come from the violator fees.

Tickets for both offenses were set at $124. If the offender does not respond to the ticket, an additional $52 will be added.

When caught by the cameras, running a red light or speeding are considered to be non-moving violations, similar to a parking ticket.

If however, a citizen is caught by a police officer committing either of those infractions, the fines may be stiffer and are considered moving violations.

To help with any confusion regarding times when school zone speeds are in effect, the Police Department plans to follow up with a city ordinance that would change all school zones to a time frame. For example, instead of reading “When children are present,” the signs would list the times “7 a.m. to 4 p.m.”

The city chose the two particular areas for the cameras after a study was done in May of 2007 that showed numerous violations in the intersection at Newport and 900, as well as a speeding problem on 2nd Avenue.

The registered owner will receive an infraction notice in the mail within 14 days of the infraction.

“I think the red light camera — I like that one a lot,” Councilman David Kappler said. “I am very supportive of the concept of the school zone, too.”

Before the traffic cameras can be installed, an AMT engineer has to start a permit process with both the city and the state. Then the traffic cameras can be added to AMTs work order list.