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Posted on 07/12/2010 8:55:38 AM PDT by NewAZson
PHOENIX -- Dozens of photo-enforcement cameras on freeways throughout the state are coming down this week.
A total of 76 cameras will cease operation on Thursday.
The photo-enforcement program, which was meant to catch speeders on Arizona's freeways, has been controversial from the beginning. The cameras first went up nearly two years ago.
While the cameras have done a good job at snapping speeders, drivers have been ignoring the tickets.
According to the Department of Public Safety, the cameras led to more than 700,000 tickets in the first year of operation. Many of those people, however, never paid the fines.
Some say that's because the tickets were mailed, making them easy to ignore.
Any driver who ignored a photo-enforcement ticket was supposed to have been served. One problem was that process servers were inundated and simply couldn't get to everybody. If a person was not served, his or her ticket became invalid after three months.
The speeding tickets should have generated about $90 million in the first year of the program. About one-third of that was actually collected.
Gov. Jan Brewer, who has always been critical of the program, decided earlier this year not to renew Arizona's contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, the company that runs the cameras.
Opponents of the cameras were thrilled with that decision. They called the cameras a distraction that actually caused wrecks. They also said the cameras were a violation of people's constitutional rights.
Supporters of the photo-enforcement program said the camera saved lives.
"We actually had almost 22 percent fewer fatality collisions in Metro Phoenix," said DPS Lt. Steve Harrison in October 2009. "That equates to 12 actual fatal collisions that didn't happen, which statistically equates to about 13 lives that were saved."
A full audit on the program's effectiveness will not be complete until this fall.
While the cameras on the freeways are going dark, many cities will continue to run speed and red-light cameras on their streets.
Earlier this year, there was a grass-roots effort to get a measure on the ballot to ban all photo-enforcement cameras in Arizona, including those on local streets. Not enough signatures were collected to get that initiative on the November ballot.
>>Any driver who ignored a photo-enforcement ticket was supposed to have been served. One problem was that process servers were inundated and simply couldn’t get to everybody. If a person was not served, his or her ticket became invalid after three months.
*****
Hand over the process serving to the illegals...Oh wait, it’s AZ.
“Many of those people, however, never paid the fines....”
Now...who could that be???
>>”We actually had almost 22 percent fewer fatality collisions in Metro Phoenix,” said DPS Lt. Steve Harrison in October 2009. “That equates to 12 actual fatal collisions that didn’t happen, which statistically equates to about 13 lives that were saved.” <<
Two phrases that this person does not understand:
1. The ends do not always justify the means.
2. Give me liberty, or give me death.
Also, 12 is a pretty low number and is more anecdotal than empirical. It would be interesting to learn the cause of all the accidents on this stretch.
Every time I go through an area that warns of cameras I drop my speed to well below the limit and often wonder if I may be getting a ticket in the mail for the time before I dropped speed. IOW, I wait a couple of weeks for another shoe to drop. I can only assume most people have the same reaction. The “big brother fear” is simply not worth the results.
In Maryland , they don’t bother you until you renew your tags. Guess What? You don’t pay the ticket,you don’t get new tags.
You will just get more out of state tags.
Of course the price of fuel had nothing to do with it.
>>You will just get more out of state tags.<<
Precicely. And the reason is in this analogy: Maryland ain’t Montana.
Paradise Valley, Arizona Police Arrest a Hat
Written by Rob on 10 July 2010
Police in Paradise Valley, Arizona angered by anti-speed camera protest. Police in Paradise Valley, Arizona took a giant sombrero into custody last month because it had interfered with a roadside speed camera. Members of the group CameraFraud had gathered beside the device on June 11 to protest the use of automated ticketing machines while the Daily Show’s Olivia Munn filmed the action. About a dozen surrounded the sombrero-topped camera which carried a sign painted in the colors of the Mexican flag reading, “Deport Me” when Paradise Valley Police Officer Steven Chavira arrived on the scene.
That jumped out at me as well. How do they know these cameras were responsible for the decrease in fatalities?
I believe this is unconstitutional and violates due process.
Of course, of that 90 million they hoped to reap, they would have got that from law-abiding citizens like me.
I really, really resent it when law-abiding means “patsy”.
Grrrr.
Yep. I understand that in some states (but I don’t know which ones), the fine is purely civil. They can actually send it to collections. But the problem is that since you never agreed that you owed the money you are not really responsible. So the only ones they collect from are the ignorant or easily intimidated. The rest get off scott free.
Not all states, of course. I’ve tried to find out which ones via internet searches but have yet to come up with a list or even a single state where that is clearly stated by anyone. It is merely something I read on one of these threads here about five years ago.
Ping
The reason these cameras are unpopular is because it takes a live person to give you a ticket. Who knows if the data was correct or not? Not only that the constitution gives you the right to face your accuser and you can hardly do that with a camera.
Yes, any number of things could have caused this fluctuation.
*
Gotta' love it.
Time to relocate.
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