Politicians love it. Speeders hate it. Police departments offer mixed reviews. Photo radar is here and it affects how you travel around our growing cities.
Photo radar is becoming a problem on several different levels. Not only are
photo radar employees being threatened for doing their job, but police officers are punishing citizens for freedom of speech against photo radar. Our politicians are so money hungry they don’t care about the safety of the accused, or the redflex employees. Several arrests have been made in Scottsdale for protesting on faulty terms. These things happen day after day and don’t even hesitate to ask a question because it’s not happening to you. You have rights, even if Scottsdale Police don’t read them to you (which is required by law).
Arizona’s speeding and red light cameras violate the right to confront one’s accuser in order to generate revenue for the state and cities, critics of photo radar say. Arizona was the first state to implement photo radar statewide and will likely have more than 100 traffic cameras deployed across the state by November, Redflex Traffic Systems. The statewide contract was awarded to Scottsdale-based Redflex. Photo radar is estimated to bring $90 million to the state in fiscal year 2009, according to a state budget summary. Between May 2007 and July 2008, DPS issued more than 86,000 citations using photo radar, about 48 percent of the approximately 180,600 incidents recorded, according to department statistics. Redflex and American Traffic Systems, which operates traffic cameras in Phoenix and Mesa, also said they could not release financial figures because they needed permission from cities to release the data.
There is an odd psychological dimension to the subject of speeding and that is that few drivers see themselves as speeders. Rather, we define our speed as relative, not absolute (like the law). While many gasp at tickets for driving 20 mph over the posted speed, few connect the dots and realize that most drivers are technically speeding when conditions are good. However, the so-called certainty of apprehension promoted by photo radar allows more drivers to connect the dots. And when they do, just as they did in B.C., they will see the law as a failure. Highway safety requires two key ingredients: minimal speed variance and reduced traffic volume. Increasing highway capacity and design speed is one way to reduce volume, however danger increases when vehicles impede others and vehicle interactions increase. Drivers naturally comply with a limit viewed as reasonable, thus reducing speed variance and therefore potential interactions between vehicles.
What will you fight for?
Hint* Your rights as a US Citizen.
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Radar Hunter
http:///www.radarhunter.com - Your
photo radar resource.
