Anti-photo-radar group protests at Redflex

[Djarun]

by Connie Cone Sexton - Feb. 6, 2010 03:24 PM
The Arizona Republic

Carrying signs that read "Will Flash for Cash" and "Cops Not Cameras," several dozen people rallied this afternoon to protest photo enforcement methods.

Leaders of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar, an organization that is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative to ban use of such traffic monitoring devices, held a press conference and then march outside the office of Reflex Traffic Systems in far north Phoenix. The company has a contract with the state to operate photo enforcement operations.


"Photo radar has to end," Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told the crowd. "I've never seen a camera stop a car or tow a car . . . This is an additional tax on our citizens."

Although Gov. Jan Brewer has said she might let the contract with Redflex expire in July to let voters to decide the issue, Babeu isn't convinced she'll follow through. Babeu said people thought he was taking too much of a risk when he urged county leaders to end its contract in 2009 with Redflex. "It wasn't the best way to enforce public safety."

But Reflex officials and its supporters counter that cameras can deter crashes. They point to a Department of Public Safety study that said in the first nine months of the statewide photo enhancement program that began in September 2008, there were 21.8 percent fewer fatal collisions and 20 percent fewer property damage collisions.

But Babeu said people shouldn't rely on a machine to do the work that a real person can. "By stopping a car, you can tell if they have an expired license, if they are possibly impaired."

Shawn Dow, chairman of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar, said his group has about 1,600 members who hope to gather enough signatures by July. He would not say how many signatures have been collected, so far.

[marybourg]

1. Yeah. We don need no lousy radar heah. We jes need us more guns! nt

[Catshrink]

2. Yet these people are most likely unwilling to have their taxes increase

to pay for "Cops Not Cameras." They just don't want to get a speeding ticket.