Something Dumb That Arizona’s Up To

Check out the ridiculousness that the Arizona government has for its citizens this year. Speed Cameras. Why are they doing this? Who are they doing this for? It’s bad enough hearing about reducing the speed limit to preserve ecology, nationwide, but this happening in Arizona is just a shame. It’s not that I’m mad about a speed camera; I’m shaking my head because they’re doing this just to get more revenue from tickets.

What do you think?

The Department of Public Safety plans to start a statewide photo enforcement program beginning Sept. 26. The program will be expanded to 60 stationary speed cameras and 40 mobile units, according to DPS press release. DPS has only two mobile units now.

The program’s goal is to have 50 units running by the end of September and all 100 cameras operating by January. Drivers will be cited for going 10 mph over the speed limit, the release said.

Stationary cameras will initially be installed in the Phoenix metro area, and will later be installed in Tucson and Flagstaff metro areas. The locations of the cameras will be determined by serious injury and fatal collision data from the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Stationary cameras are expected at major junctions such as the interchange of interstates 10 and 17, known as the “Stack,” and at the Interstate 10, Loop 202 and Arizona 51 interchange.

Each highway patrol district will be assigned two to three mobile units.

The vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, will be allotted about $20 million for the implementation of the program. About $4 million will be given to the State Supreme Court and about $2 million will be given to DPS. “This is the first program of its kind in the nation,” said Roger Vanderpool, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The contract provides for 100 cameras by the January deadline and 200 fixed and mobile cameras over a time frame still being determined, said Cristina Weekes, executive vice president of Redflex. The initial contract with DPS will run for two years and provides for three one-year extensions, she said.

Credit: Tucson Citizen

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 20th, 2008 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Tucson News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.