Traffic Cameras - Did we vote for this?

[urotsukidoji]

My letter to the City of Pima County (Tucson, AZ) Photo Enforcement Program, as follows:


Greetings Violation Info,

My wife received a notice of violation concerning a "11 mph" transgression on E River Rd and Country Club Rd -- Notice #1321200122959.

Clearly, the photos you've provided show a wide open, flawless stretch of 5-lane highway with no other vehicles visible for at least 10 carlengths in either direction. The posted speed limit is 40 mph, arguably an artificially diminutive limit for the width and traffic pattern of such a road at that location, where there are clearly no businesses, homes, construction, school crossings or public walkways.

Pic 1: http://flic.kr/p/c4cXAh
Pic 2: http://flic.kr/p/c4cXxG

The website you've provided states the following rubric for fines:

Speed 1-10 miles over $191.25
Speed 11-15 miles over $239.25
Speed 16-20 miles over $258.25
Speed 21-25 miles over $278.25
Speed 26-30 miles over $291.25
Speed 31 or more miles over $412.25

…and that “points will be assessed to my [wife's flawless] driving record". Surely, this event will result in a concomitant increase in my otherwise untainted auto insurance premiums.

To be sure, our family drives an electric vehicle (a Nissan LEAF), where an 11mph delta results from the lightest possible tap on the accelerator pedal. Was my wife guilty of SUSTAINED speeds of 11 mph over the posted limit?

Pertaining to your fines, I find the assertion that 30 mph beyond the posted speed limit is effectively only $100 dollars more deleterious to others and society, as compared to a ONE mile-per-hour adventure over the posted limit, to be ludicrous.

We the People did not authorize the installation of these systems in our great State of Arizona, did we? Clearly, if the average taxpaying Tucsonian was asked on a ballot if "$191.25" was a valid deterrent to driving 1 mph over the posted vehicular speed limit, they would surely decline.

Are you - "Violationinfo.com" - a publicly held company? Where do funds sent to you go? Do 100% of these funds go to public works and/or roadway development projects? If not, how are collected funds allocated?

Was the installation of these systems voted upon by the public? Might we be allowed, as citizens, to perhaps vote on these systems in future?

Finally, your website states that the "...Insurance Institute for Highway Safety [findings] reduce deadly collisions. Cities install the system to improve public safety." I would appreciate if you would please send me that report, indicating pre- and post-installation augmentation of public safety indicators. My wife and I would both love to read it in its entirety. Further, might the compelling statistics contained therein have been corroborated by an entity NOT funded by the auto insurance industry? If so, please send along those documents that might corroborate said findings for societally deleterious infractions involving momentary 11 mph transgressions as well.

Thank you for your time.

XXXXX X. XXXXXXXXX, Ph.D.
Arizona taxpayer, Tucson business owner, homeowner, driver.

[hunter]

1. Here's what they think of them in Britain...

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm

[justiceischeap]

2. I received 3 recently

And in each one, I was going exactly 48 mph. I'm not denying that I could have been speeding, because I often do but what I find so amazing is that in the exact same block, in 3 different instances, I was going exactly 48 mph. Seemed wonky and a bit illegitimate to me.

[leveymg]

3. My understanding is that the face has to be clearly visible for the charges to stick.

Buy her a pair of really big sunglasses, a floppy driving hat. She can pretend to be Jackie O.

[thelordofhell]

4. We voted the permanent freeway cameras off years ago

The city ones have been in place even before the freeway ones were installed, and are hardly speed traps. So it seems your wife not only completely ignored the posted speed limit, she also completely ignored the sign that has to be placed that alerts the drivers that there is a speed enforcement camera on the road (usually under the speed limit signs, saying "radar enforced&quot , then she also completely ignored the large camera on the side of the road that houses the speed equipment. Maybe next time she should pay more attention to things happening on the road while she's driving her turbo-charged, light on the "gas" pedal, electric car.

[urotsukidoji]

5. Admittedly guilty, but...

Admittedly, she was guilty of a legitimate infraction of posted speed limits. But 40mph speed limits on mirror-smooth, wide open roads and excessive penalties are my gripes. I'm just wondering if we VOTED for either Tucson's new roadway surveillance systems or the accompanying now-4-second yellow lights.

Your tone, however, is untoward. "Hardly a speed trap" is a meaningless statement, as it is altogether the point of my letter.

(PS. Turbocharging an electric car would be quite a trick. It already has a KERS variant, but that's not the same thing.)

U

[Raine]

6. They got rid of them in my area of Los Angeles County

people raised a big fuss about them because they were so inaccurate.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Los Angeles is getting rid of them. All the money went to the company that owns the cameras

[rustydog]

8. By your arguement, all traffic speed limits are arbitrary, so why not speed?

Obey the speed limit, don't get ticketed!
The speed limit signs don't have an"Except" small print at the bottom for days of slow or non-existent traffic flow!

[GoneOffShore]

13. So, you never speed? Ever?

You always obey all traffic laws?

You are a paragon.

[Ptah]

9. "City of Pima County"

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. "Did we vote for this?"

Yes, you did. Or, to be precise, you voted for representatives who introduced measures in the city council, county board of commissioners, or state legislature to implement speed camera technology as a means of a) reducing speeding and b) enhancing local revenues through collection of fines. "You the people" did in fact authorise the installation of these systems by voting for representatives who then voted to install them. This is how representative government works. The average voter isn't voting for the minutiae; this is why we have representatives. you are however perfectly free to vote for someone who campaigns on a platform of removing said speed cameras, or to petition the city council, county board of commissioners, or state legislature (whichever is the relevant authority) for a hearing on their removal.

[Meiko]

11. The city of Phoenix

got rid of theirs, they were losing money on them.

[urotsukidoji]

12. How so, Phoenix?

Greetings Meiko,

Any idea how Phoenix saw the light? Was it a grassroots movement, or simple economics and occurred without citizen input?

No offense intended, Spider Jerusalem, I hear what you are saying. But from what I've been made to understand from friends-with-agendas, Arizona government is all but inaccessible to us commoners...they're not listening, disengaged, beholden and, honestly, somewhat retarded. Liberalism is often used as a swear word outside of Tucson. Our votes don't count.

[Zalatix]

14. Apparently we voted for the politicians, ergo we voted for these cameras.

If we voted for the politicians who came up with the idea for these cameras, then obviously we voted for the cameras.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

15. I'd like to see a little less focus on speeding and more on other forms of bad driving.

Weaving, riding the brake, pulling out into traffic or turning without looking, turns across multiple lanes, running stop lights and signs, pets in your lap, putting on makeup, etc. I feel like I'm bouncing around a pinball machine some days. Catching speeders, however it's done, is low hanging fruit.