Sometime this spring, at the direction of our illustrious governor Janet Napolitreno, DPS put out a contract for 170 or 175 photo radar cameras even though the intial proposal was for only 100. Our representatives quashed the idea immediately & quickly. Nonetheless, the proposal was there.

How'd it get pushed through?

Easy. Janet ran up a TWO BILLION DOLLAR ($2,000,000,000) deficit in the State government budget and when it came time to make ends meet, Janet decided to balance her budget on the backs of Joe Q Public--the drivers of Arizona.

Folks, this used to be a great state to drive in when I first arrived. But the increase in draconian laws has resulted in more people going faster on average and has made the road less safe, IMHO. Before the undue attention to drivers doing merely 85 MPH, one could easily cruise along at 110. And there was very little law enforcement. Most folks went 10 MPH over. That meant 75 MPH in a 65 and it was relatively safe. Now, the flow of traffic is at 80-85 mph and leans towards 85.

Why has it increased after all the publicity and attention? That is the natural inclination with such publicity. Had authorities left it alone and never mentioned it (speeding), the flow of traffic would have remained at 75.

So, Arizona is going to make up for half that budget deficit by ticketing drivers!!! ===>

The first wave of photo radar camers has been pushed through and will be active in or by September. There will be 60 stationary photo radar cameras AND 40 mobile radar camera vans--placed throughout the state.

So, be careful when you drive in Arizona. Even though we've some great scenery and some great drives and quite often the road is clear and the weather is almost always perfect. Be prepared to remain under 10 MPH over the speed limit on the highways and 5 MPH over the posted limit in school zones.

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Don't miss scraping my master's windshield, winter oil, winter tires, chains, pluggin' in the car over night--block water heater! and interior warmer. And having to put anti-freeze in my GAS!

Do miss slippin' & slidin'.

The name of your governor is Janet Napolitano.
Your state's budget deficit was $1,300,000.
Projections are that the traffic cameras will produce revenue equal to 1/10th the deficit.
Please tell me us you were tired, or medicated, or kidding when you wrote this. It makes no sense. BTW, traffic fatalities in your state dropped 17% from 2006 to 2007 despite population and motor vehicle increases.

I share your opposition to speed cameras for several reasons, but if you're going to rant, at least get the facts right. After all, this is the internet where everything posted is presumed to be true.

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Dan

a couple of years ago there was a similar proposal being pushed in the hawaii state legislature. the press and public referred to it as "van cams" and there was considerable public opposition. eventually, the proposal died...i guess that sometimes, lawmakers do listen to the voters. unfortunately, the principal supporter of the proposal is still in office.

I could not agree more; those cameras to catch speeders are a bad idea for me with my newly owned Cayman and lead foot. However, the lady that cuts my hair has been in a long-term relationship with a police officer and let me in on a secret. Should you register your car in your significant others name you will not be ticketed. The local police department has two full time staff members that do nothing more than review the pictures and match them to the registered owner. For those that do not match they do not proceed with the ticketing process. Of course I learned about this after my purchase but will be putting my car in my wife’s name next year. Another, less dramatic change would be to purchase a license plate cover that is designed to produce a glare for that exact reason. No plate number, no ticket, no problem. :-)

And... you seriously believe that?
I hope you are joking.

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Here's to more and more photo cameras, outside of Texas!

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2006 Porsche Cayman S, Lapis Blue

Sorry but New Mexico is going in the same direction. School zones, please please don't go 10 miles over. I know your governor's dad , and she comes from a very responsible family.

I hope Bloomberg don't read this and get any ideas.

Just to follow up, I did not think anyone would fail to miss the sarcasm in not using my governor's exact name.

You are fairly accurate: The current budget deficit is slightly under $1.3 Billion. However, next year's budget deficit is $2.1 Billion. I live in Arizona and that last figure is optomistic.

Yeah, I have to admit I may have gotten carried away in how much of it will be bourne on the backs of drivers but there were statements in the news that *the governor proposed raising half of her funds via this "road tax."* I think she intends to borrow the rest--just like she did a few years back. But then it was a growing economy and there was no mortgage crisis.

Now as to your citation of a decrease in motor vehicle fatalites, that is just plain wonderful news. However, I am not certain of your source regarding population growth. Rather, I observe a lot of empty houses and empty apartments. The o-u-t-f-l-o-w was noticeable and significant for well over a year.

We are losing people and we've lost jobs.

Mind you, I just live here and I drive on our roads. So what do I know?

So this is conjecture:

There are MVA's here because there are less drivers because we are losing more than 10,000 people each month. While 7-8,000 legal citizens move in, more than 18, 000 are headed souh (home) each month. And most of them don't have auto insurance and I can't help but wonder if our accidents might be down because of them--leaving.

I don't think anybody who has lived here for a while can't help bu notice that there are fewer cars on the roads in Phoenix. While it might be because gas costs more, I think there are other causes.

There isn't as much work to pull anybody here and law enforcement (Sheriff Joe Arpaio) stepped up his efforts. While there are (thank God) fewer shoot outs reported, many of those continue to be supressed--including the one involving automatic (FULLY automatic) weapons fire on the west side. We think since they were reported as Mexican military types hired to do a side job. The news was squelched the same day it was reported.

Back to my poll:

Last year there was one death on the Loop 101 near Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale. A young mother died in a MVA. 28 years young. Right at the traffic cameras.

Apparently, she failed to do what all the other drivers do [Hit their brakes when they are approaching the fixed speeding camera sites] and she died horribly. I have been up that way and even in heavy traffic everyone drives 75-85 mph en masse. And they hit their brakes hard just before the cameras en masse. At times it is impossible to drive the speed limit (55/65) safely on the 101. It gets pretty hairy.

FYI:

Since 2006 driving 20 MPH over the posted speed limit in AZ is "reckless driving" AND it is a F-E-L-O-N-Y.

Above all be respectful to officers when they stop you. It can make all the difference in your day. Give them a break. It's got to be stressful when so many unknowns are involved and a traffic stop is the most dangerous event short of answering a domestic violence call. Officers here really respond well to a little respect and it costs nothing to give them a lot of it.

Since everything on the internet is true I thought I'd let you all know that I am really saving a lot of gas driving slow. But SAFE highway driving in the city demands more gas and more speed than I want to give it. I'm the guy in the sedan doing 55, maybe 65, on your right.

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Don't miss scraping my master's windshield, winter oil, winter tires, chains, pluggin' in the car over night--block water heater! and interior warmer. And having to put anti-freeze in my GAS!

Do miss slippin' & slidin'.

Our state and local govt is comprised of complete subhuman idiots- big time. Kinda like the bar scene in Star Wars. The local govt entered to an agreement with Lockheed Martin who makes the speed cameras. They put these traps up all over town. Speed trap camera vans, red light cameras, you name it. It was gonna be a big ole down home southern style revenue fest and everybody was going to get a slice of the pie. Except for one small detail.The state passed a law a few years back that that a large share of the loot had to go directly to the public schools. These brain surgeons were too stupid to read their own laws before installing millions of dollars worth of this electronic nonsense WT#?????: D

With no cash to steal from the driving public the project was shut down and the cameras were turned off

Trust me- I am not making this up.

Sounds about par for the course.
I still don't buy the "speed kills" line. What I do believe is, untrained, distracted drivers kill. If everyone would put down the coffee, cell phones, and look further the 8 feet in front of them, we'd all be much safer.

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Dan