Posted on 01/19/2008 2:37:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge
PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says the deployment of new photo radar or other speed enforcement technology on state highways is all about public safety. But her proposed state budget counts on the anticipated speeding fines to help erase a projected revenue shortfall.
The proposal, submitted to the Legislature late Friday, anticipates $120 million in revenue the first year, including $90 million in net income after expenses from the statewide effort. Even bigger dollar amounts are expected in future years.
The state faces a projected revenue shortfall of at least $1.2 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
While some states use photo radar and similar technology on a limited basis in areas such as construction zones, experts said Arizona is in the vanguard of moving toward a widespread deployment of speed technology on highways.
"It wasn't designated primarily for revenue generation but since we have it (and) it works, we want to move statewide," Napolitano said. "We made that decision before the whole budget issue arose. Now we take advantage of it and use it for law enforcement highway safety purposes."
The governor's budget aides said Friday they could not immediately provide details on assumptions used to project the revenue estimate, including the numbers of expected violations.
Napolitano's plan needs approval by the Republican-led Legislature, and one key lawmaker expressed immediate opposition.
"I don't know whether Arizonans want to be policed by cameras," said Senate Transportation Chairman Ron Gould, adding that he plans legislation to require that voters decide the issue. "It smacks of Big Brother to me."
Proposals calling for even limited use of cameras have run into opposition in some states.
Maryland's transportation secretary on Tuesday told lawmakers that cameras in highway work zones would improve worker safety and reduce accidents, but lawmakers raised concerns on privacy, effectiveness and motive.
Arizona Automobile Association spokeswoman Linda Gorman said the 750,000-member group representing drivers supports photo radar as a way to improve traffic safety but not to help balance the state budget.
A year ago, Napolitano cited results from suburban Scottsdale's use of fixed cameras on a stretch of state freeway when she directed the state Department of Public Safety to begin researching the possible use of new speed enforcement devices.
An Arizona State University professor who studied the Scottsdale project found that it reduced speeding and accident rates. That system uses sensors embedded in the freeway to trigger cameras that snap photos of speeding vehicles. Motor vehicle records are checked to find the vehicles' owners, ultimately leading to citations for identified drivers.
Smile Purty, You're paying for it.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano gives her State of the State address in the House Chamber of the State Capitol in Phoenix in this Jan. 14, 2008 file photo. Napolitano is counting on a proposed new photo radar system on state highways — and the speeding fines that come with it — to help erase a projected revenue shortfall. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
Give credit where it is due... the GOP in the AZ legislature is salivating over this proposal as well.
Was her lips moving when she said this?
It’s always about revenue for the govt. Catching real criminals doesn’t make the state any money. (And it’s dangerous,too!)
The technology exists to eliminate speeding on public roads. But if this were done, it would also eliminate the income from fines for speeding on public roads. Any speeding control program that fails to control speeding is obviously a revenue program in the thinnest disguise.
Why people vote for people who are going to force them to drive across the desert at 55 mph, I will never understand.
I agree. Because what happens when more people start driving at or below the speed limit? Then there would not be enough 'speeders' revenue coming in to balance the budget. Which leads to higher taxes.
I have a novel idea! Why not cut the size of government to balance the budget?
Looks like a good place for Photoblocker.com
The highway speed in AZ is 75MPH. It's 55 in the city.
Crazy talk! /s
Money is the ONLY reason that law enforcement puts so much emphasis on “punishing” a “crime” that is simply defined by moving a vehicle at a speed deemed “too fast” while ignoring illegals, drug dealers, rapists, murders, burglaries, and robberies.
In the small community where I live, they use municipal codes to enhance their revenues, because there is no speeding going on.
We have a (one) ‘Code Enforcement Officer’ that roams the streets and finds ‘things’ then cites homeowners claiming to have left ‘warnings’ that were never left.
This ‘officer’ was obviously tasked with something above his paygrade, as he himself is now under scrutiny.
Short of the story: MY taxes pay for the public ‘servant’ wages, MY time is taken away to defend something that never happened, and then the folks that don’t have the time or inclination to fight this idiocy, pay a fine!
Most of this is the result of no new construction, no remodels, and many vacancies in the community, so the liberal-tards have found a way to keep the cash coming to support their own useless existence.
If you want to find ways to fight this non-sense, I have some ideas, just PM me.
Speed limits are one of those things that I think exist primarily as revenue generators. On one hand, actually driving DANGEROUSLY is one thing, zipping in and out of lanes at 110 MPH, but going 92 MPH, on a dry desert road, on a straightaway, in broad daylight is NOT dangerous at all.
Insert your own comments here.
Cheers!
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to give everyone a speeding ticket unless they could show they were not on the road that day? illigal aliens excepted of course.
—”It’s always about revenue for the govt. Catching real criminals doesn’t make the state any money.”—
Roger that. Here in Washington state, Christine Fraudoire has decided to propose DUI checkpoints “for safety”, even after the state superior court found them unconstitutional.
The BTK killer was a “code enforcement officer” in a small suburb of Wichita. Apparently it’s not a large step from anal-obsessive, power-drunk control freak incompetent-for any-other-job with a small amount of “authority” to serial killer. Sort of Barney Fife with a knife and a roll of duct tape.
Big money maker in law enforcement..DUI,DWI, whatever.
Thanks for that reminder!
We got one in the making here, sadly.
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