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By PAUL DAVENPORT~AP News
Arizona is ending a groundbreaking and contentious program that put speed cameras along Phoenix-area freeways and in vans deployed across the state.
Opponents have argued the cameras open the door for wider “Big Brother” surveillance and are more about making money than safety. The program has been the target of an initiative measure proposed for the November ballot.
Even Gov. Jan Brewer has said she doesn’t like the cameras, and her intention to end the program was first disclosed in her January budget proposal. That was followed by a non-renewal letter sent by the Arizona Department of Public Safety this week to the private company that runs the program.
Scottsdale-based Redflex said Thursday that the 36 fixed cameras will be turned off and the 40 vans taken off highways on July 16, the day after its state contract expires.
The non-renewal letter was first reported by The Arizona Republic.
The camera program was instituted by Brewer’s predecessor, Janet Napolitano, now the Homeland Security secretary. Cameras were introduced in September 2008 and were added until all 76 were up and running by January 2009.
Lawmakers considered repeal proposals within months, but set the issue aside and appealed for calmer debate when a passing motorist fatally shot a camera-van operator doing paperwork in his marked vehicle in April 2009.
The mobile and fixed cameras snap the photos of speeders going 11 mph or over the speed limit, and violators get tickets in the mail. Supporters said the cameras slow down drivers, reduce accidents, and free up law-enforcement officers for serious criminals.
Napolitano estimated that the program would bring in $90 million revenue in its first year, but actual revenue fell far short as many motorists ignored notices received in the mail.
While hundreds of jurisdictions across the country use speed cameras and some states have limited programs using cameras in certain areas, Arizona’s statewide deployment remained the widest state use of the technology.
The state’s decision is a setback for supporters of speed-enforcement cameras, said Jonathan Adkins, a spokesman for the Washington-based Governors Highway Safety Association.
“We need to look and see what happened in Arizona why didn’t it work,” he said.
Shawn Dow, a leader of the initiative campaign, welcomed the decision to end the program but said the drive’s organizers still plan to file petition signatures on the July 1 deadline to qualify it for the November ballot.
The end of the state program does not affect local governments’ use of cameras for speed enforcement, but the proposed ballot measure would prohibit state and local governments from using cameras for both speed violations and red-light running.
Redflex, a unit of Australia-based Redflex Holdings Ltd., said in a disclosure to the Australian Securities Exchange that it could write off $5 million of assets because of the program’s end. Under the state’s contract, Redflex supplies cameras, vans and other equipment.
Department of Public Safety officials declined to comment on the contract or to immediately release the letter. Redflex quoted the letter as saying the non-renewal reflected “a change in the agency’s focus.”
The end of the program will be a disappointment, Redflex spokeswoman Shoba Vaitheeswaran said. She said it comes as the program continued to mature, with improvements being made in court processing procedures and other areas.
Arizona lawmakers approved legislation this year that imposes new signage requirements and other changes for the program.
Joanna Peters, a Phoenix traffic-safety activist, called the Brewer administration’s decision irresponsible.
“They’re ignoring a silent majority of folks who actually support the program,” Peters said. “This is something we could fix, not just throw out the baby.”
Related posts:
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- Speed cameras on U.S. highways?
- Arizona County shelves speed-camera program
- Arizona Governor’s Proposed Budget Counts on Cash From Photo Radar on State Highways
- Anti-Speed Camera Group Calls on Arizona State Police Chief to Step Down
- Governor Wants Speed Cameras On Interstates
- Average speed cameras to be installed on major urban stretch for first time
Joanna Peters is a typical Liberal. All the program was really ever about was getting into the taxpayers pocket under the guise of safety.
In Arizona all photo tickets, whether for speeding or red light running are bogus. Arizona law requires that all summons which is what a ticket is MUST be served in person. Mailing a ticket is not valid service. You can safely ignore any ticket mailed to you.
You make me laugh! I was stationed in the UK for four years where speed cameras were prevalent! YES, you had to pay the ticket, YES, it was a legal summons and YES, they will take action against you! I doubt that the legal branch of the AZ legislature would overlook something that would allow you to keep $$ out of the coffers. The reason so many people were able to get away with it is that the cameras snapped thousands of pics a day! NO department has the resources to pursue all the non-payers. But sidesteppers will be in for a surprise when they try to renew their license! Want to know how to beat the camera? Learned this in the UK. It’s easy!
Any jurisdiction involved has to give warning prior to the camera, so once you see the warning SLOW DOWN!!!!!! Once you pass the speed trap it’s really your decision whether or not you want to speed up again. Look, I’m sorry if you got caught, but since you’re having trouble understanding something as simple as I mentioned above, do you really need to come to a site like this and offer legal advice?
Actually, the folks in the UK have developed a very effective means of dealing with the $cameras. http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm
They also know how to deal with the threat of their vehicles being booted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGQMq3hNv-g
Furthermore, Rick is correct about the unenforceability of mailed citations in the state of Arizona. That’s why the $camera crooks were lobbying for legislation in Arizona to make mailed citations enforceable. Legislators regularly enact unenforceable legislation either knowingly or unknowingly. You ought to see the contortions and lies revenue grabbing jurisdictions here in Texas have used to try to collect on their $cams.
Although speeding is wrong, two wrongs don’t make one right.
I (was) am a super careful (retired professional) driver, but was snagged by a live officer manned speed trap set up deliberately to entrap unwary drivers.
Down a gully, around a curve and back up, and BANG! No warning of reduced speed ahead, suddenly a 10 MPH drop in the limit and no time to decelerate normally – the only way to avoid a ticket is to slam on your breaks as if there was an obstruction in the road – before passing the sign (the cop is parked under a tree a block away). That is NOT “Public Safety” – that is plain and simply legalized highway robbery.
The city clerk (West Haven, Utah, USA – Near Ogden, UT) openly admitted that this was a primary revenue source for the city. Fortunately for me, I had been doing the legal limit, not the “normal public speed” of 5 mph over – or my fine would have put me into the “report this to the state and impact your driving record” category.
I believe the city has now posted “reduced speed ahead” signs, but the speed trap remains.
Yes, speeding is a public safety issue. However, ways to deal with it are not legalized extortion. One worried resident found a clever solution. A large cardboard sign just before the bend in the road. Written in crayon in a childish scrawl, it simply said, “Speed trap ahed”. Other communities place a wrecked squad car – good side showing toward traffic, with a mannequin in a police uniform posed with a fake radar gun alongside the road. Other communities put lighted radar signs up that display your speed. There is no legitimate “Public Safety” reason for speed “traps” – camera or other – That is nothing less than an excuse to generate revenue from in inattentive drivers. However, a recent trip through Arizona showed the value of manned camera vans with warning signs well in advance. People THERE were largely obeying the speed limit. However, I noted that once away from the high visibility enforcement areas, speeding became more rampan.
Part of the problem, however, is states (like Utah) that ALLOW excess speeds on state highways – encouraging speeding on state roads – and then local communities take advantage of the mentality that produces to generate revenue by more stringent enforcement. If police around the nation reasonably and uniformaly enforced speed limits, speed traps would be a waste of resources.
A Retired Professional Safe Driver – Now drivng to see all the places he missed for lack of time to stop – I apply the brakes at speed zone changes, if I there isn’t distance enough to “coast down” – even if I have to leave a little rubber on the road.
Speed traps are revenue generators more than safety measures. Live with it for now. Fight it in the legislatures, but drive to keep from getting tagged. Stay safe both physically and fiscally.
Good. I’ll lose my license if I get another ticket. My insurance is through the roof!
If the 1st ticket is bogus, unenforceable, the 2nd Final Notice is also bogus and unenforceable, then the 3rd Contact the phone call trying to get you to pay before fees are added, also bogus. The 4th attempt via process service warns you that there will be fees added if you contest the “citation” in court. I guess that ones for real huh? All these charades to make our highways safer? What do you suppose would happen to Public Safety if DPS made it known to the public that the first three shots fired from an Officers firearm weren’t real bullets?