Photo radar system force sdrivers to be more reasonable with speed
Riis Valcho
Drivers caught speeding are now subject to getting tickets by the state’s new photo-radar enforcement system. Arizona has deployed both mobile camera units and has nearly completed the installation of 100 fixed camera-devices believed to be the nation’s first statewide system.
Cameras on the Superstition Freeway went active on Nov. 1.
The devices, meant to deter speeding and advance highway safety, went active on the Valley’s freeway system back on Oct. 22. Interstate 10, Interstate 17, State Route 51, and Loop 101 also have working speed-camera devices.
Noting public safety benefits from cameras put up in Scottsdale on Loop 101, Gov. Janet Napolitano, in 2007, directed officials to develop a photo speed enforcement program.
State legislators opposed the idea of the system, but the governor prevailed.
Napolitano projected $90 million in new state revenue from citations when approved in the state budget.
The camera and radar instruments are housed in white boxes on posts and placed along freeways and other highly traveled highways throughout the state.
However, the majority of them are located in the Phoenix Metropolitan area.
Mesa currently has three locations along the US 60, but none for the time being on the Loop 202, which runs along the City’s northern and far eastern border.
A copy of the photo, along with a ticket, is mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner and the company that installs and maintains the devices, Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. of Scottsdale, gets a percentage of the fine.
Opponents of the cameras criticize the practice as a clandestine surveillance method that infringes on civil liberties and denies drivers the right to contest a traffic ticket issued by an unseen accuser.
Locations along the Superstition Freeway are West Bound US-60 and Gilbert Road, West bound U.S. 60 and Mesa Drive and west bound U.S. 60 and Alma School Road.
