Arizona May Abandon Speed Cameras on Highways

Spencer Collins · #1 (**permalink**) 01-03-2010, 10:34 PM

Quote:

PHOENIX (AP) — More than a year after Arizona became the first state in the country to deploy dozens of speed cameras on highways statewide, threats to the groundbreaking program abound.

Profits are far below expectations, a citizen effort to ban the cameras is gaining steam, the governor has said she does not like the program, and more and more drivers are ignoring the tickets they get in the mail after hearing from fellow speeders that there are often no consequences to doing so.

“I see all the cameras in Arizona completely coming down ” in 2010, said Shawn Dow, chairman of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar, which is trying to get a measure banning the cameras on the November ballot. “The citizens of Arizona took away the cash cow of Arizona by refusing to pay.”

The Arizona Department of Public Safety introduced the cameras in September 2008 and slowly added more until all 76 were up and running by January.

Supporters say the cameras slow down drivers and reduce accidents, but opponents argue that they are intrusive and are more about making money than safety.

More than 300 communities in 25 states use cameras similar to Arizona’s, including New York, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. But the backlash seems to be particularly intense in Arizona. Some people have shown their distaste with the cameras by covering them with boxes, sticky notes and Silly String. In locally infamous cases, one man took a pickax to a camera and another purposefully set off the cameras dozens of times while wearing a monkey mask.

Lt. Jeff King, photo enforcement district commander for the Department of Public Safety, said his agency just wanted drivers to go the speed limit and did not understand all the backlash.

“Instead of spending so much time focusing on getting rid of cameras, why don’t they focus on the real problem, the root problem, which is getting people to drive the speed limit?" Lieutenant King said. “If everyone was to drive the speed limit, the cameras would never flash.”

The cameras led to more than 700,000 tickets to drivers going 11 miles per hour or more over the speed limit from September 2008 to September 2009, the most recent data available, according to the Department of Public Safety. The mandated fines and surcharges on all those tickets would total more than $127 million, but they had generated just $36.8 million through September, Lieutenant King said.

Some of the people who got those tickets are contesting them in court and could end up having to pay the fine, but many of them have gone unpaid because drivers know they have a good shot at getting away with ignoring them. When people get tickets, they can pay without question, request a court date and fight the ticket, or simply ignore the ticket because law enforcement cannot prove they received it. The ticket becomes invalid if a violator who ignores it is not served in person within three months. It is nearly impossible to say how many people have ignored their tickets because courts do not track the figure.

Whatever the figure, overtaxed process servers cannot get to most of those people, and many of the citations go unpaid. That is part of the reason the speed cameras have not made as much money as expected. While certain to increase, that $36.8 million in revenue through September will still fall far below the $120 million a year that former Gov. Janet Napolitano hoped to put in the state’s coffers when she ordered up the program in early 2007.

The camera operator, Redflex, may not even be breaking even. It cost the company $16 million to install the cameras, and it got back $4.6 million from September 2008 to June, Lieutenant King said.

Arizona May Abandon Speed Cameras on Highways - NYTimes.com

Hey...just don't pay the fine...what a concept...

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HenryW · #2 (**permalink**) 01-03-2010, 11:04 PM

For those who live in California, or might visit, here is a special note about California camera tickets. (As in many fields of endeavor, California does it differently. Not better, just differently.)

In California the tickets cost $450+! And a demerit on your license. Because CA tickets affect your license, the police have to get the name of the actual driver before they can file the ticket at court. Since the photo of the plates leads only to the registered owner ("RO"), and he/she often was not the person driving the car, about 40 California police depts. mail out a document that looks like a real ticket, but isn't, to bluff the RO into ID'ing the actual driver of the car. These "Snitch Tickets" haven't been filed with the court, so are recognizable because they don't say "Notice to Appear," don't have the court's address, and say (on the back, in small letters), "Do not contact the court." Since they have NOT been filed with the court, they have no legal weight. You can ignore a Snitch Ticket. If in doubt, Google the term.

saltwn · #3 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HenryW

For those who live in California, or might visit, here is a special note about California camera tickets. (As in many fields of endeavor, California does it differently. Not better, just differently.)

In California the tickets cost $450+! And a demerit on your license. Because CA tickets affect your license, the police have to get the name of the actual driver before they can file the ticket at court. Since the photo of the plates leads only to the registered owner ("RO"), and he/she often was not the person driving the car, about 40 California police depts. mail out a document that looks like a real ticket, but isn't, to bluff the RO into ID'ing the actual driver of the car. These "Snitch Tickets" haven't been filed with the court, so are recognizable because they don't say "Notice to Appear," don't have the court's address, and say (on the back, in small letters), "Do not contact the court." Since they have NOT been filed with the court, they have no legal weight. You can ignore a Snitch Ticket. If in doubt, Google the term.

Thanks for the info, HenryW, and BTW we're glad you found our forum!

mlurp · #4 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

Arizona May Abandon Speed Cameras on Highways

Hey...just don't pay the fine...what a concept...

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Gee if it about money why not just charge those that cross over into AZ. a set amount.. The state would reap millions.

But why are drivers so upset. We are a nation of laws. So drive the dang limit and be safe.

Oh right they see that the law doesn't do much about everyday in the boarder states.
So enforce all the dang laws period!

Great Post Spencer.. As it does point to a problem larger than the rader camera's.

If the new members find the Say Hi to us and post I will say welcome. To many threads with welcome in them IMO.

Spencer Collins · #5 (**permalink**) 01-04-2010, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlurp

Gee if it about money why not just charge those that cross over into AZ. a set amount.. The state would reap millions.

But why are drivers so upset. We are a nation of laws. So drive the dang limit and be safe.

Oh right they see that the law doesn't do much about everyday in the boarder states.So enforce all the dang laws period!

Great Post Spencer.. As it does point to a problem larger than the rader camera's.

If the new members find the Say Hi to us and post I will say welcome. To many threads with welcome in them IMO.

Thanks mlurp,I don't have a problem with these cameras and I like the idea of freeing up officers to do more important work. I can sympathize with some AZ residents who believe these cameras are mainly used to raise money from fines.When I'm out on the highway and the limit is 70...I set my cruise control to 72 and I've never been pulled over.I've been nailed a few times passing through small towns where the limit (suddenly) drops from 45 to 25 long before entering that town and often without warning...

mlurp · #6 (**permalink**) 01-06-2010, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

Thanks mlurp,I don't have a problem with these cameras and I like the idea of freeing up officers to do more important work. I can sympathize with some AZ residents who believe these cameras are mainly used to raise money from fines.When I'm out on the highway and the limit is 70...I set my cruise control to 72 and I've never been pulled over.I've been nailed a few times passing through small towns where the limit (suddenly) drops from 45 to 25 long before entering that town and often without warning...

Same here. In KS. along state roads B-4 a town one might find a sharp curve and among the growth of trees a speed limit sign if your lucky to see it. That is a money trap if your not use to the road.

But on the Interstate they do have these cameras, not many but some. I do like you on the roads 2 MPH or less. Lucky I haven't had a speeding ticket in many years. In any town it is the limit period....

Lord, that isn't bragging, it is reaching a learning curve and the wisdom of age.

Mustang Man · #7 (**permalink**) 01-06-2010, 02:35 PM

Shouldn't have been allowed to begin with. Frakking Big Brother!

mlurp · #8 (**permalink**) 01-06-2010, 02:58 PM

I think your going to see many more with the terror thing.. Big Brother is listening in reading e-mails etc.

I saw a show yesterday about 3 D camera ID and databases on the National GEO Channel.

It included chip insertion... That has a ways to go.. But civil rights is going to take a backseat sooner or later under all this terrorism..

That is just IMHO... I don't want it either.

Adept1 · #9 (**permalink**) 01-08-2010, 12:01 PM

Florida is about to get a shock.
They forgot to repeal the law that says that the officer observing the infraction has to be the one to "write" the ticket.
All the speed traps, and photo tickets are worthless.

mlurp · #10 (**permalink**) 01-08-2010, 12:09 PM

Some laws work great and others not as well. But what doesn't work well most of the time is the law makers....

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