Here’s a novel idea, get rid of the unreasonably low speed limits and use the enforcement cameras to determine the avg speed road users are driving on that particular roadway.
That wouldn’t work, how would AZ generate revenue from ridiculous road taxes?
I’ve got a concern with the validity of these photo radar devices. Are these cameras high enough quality to present a clear image of who was driving the vehicle. I’d be pretty ticked if I got a $300 ticket in the mail because my brother borrowed my car. Now I would have to take a day off of work to go to court and dispute the fact that It wasn’t even me that was speeding.
If you are not speeding you have nothing to worry about! If you are speeding you are breaking the law. If you robbed a bank and only got $1.00 would that make a difference?
If you were not the driver, you report to the MVD (have a lunch packed), show the ticket and pics and they will void the ticket – you do not have to go to court. Some municipalities require that you identify the driver in the picture however.
The freeway cameras are set to take your pic only if you’re 10+ miles over the speed limit. However often you will have just entered a construction zone and, since you haven’t dropped your speed immediately by 20 miles per hour, you may get a lovely picture in the mail. Ignore the ticket in the mail and Mr. Process Server may show up at your door to serve you. Don’t answer, and Mr. Police Officer may show up next.
They have skipped the mailing of tickets for some traveling 100+ mph and shown up to arrest them.
Here’s my remaining question to the state: how do I face my accuser?
Frankly the cameras do little to decrease the speeds on the freeways. They just cause congestion when everyone comes around a curve and hits their brakes so that they are 10 miles UNDER the speedlimit.
I’m no libertarian, but I think we should be concerned. The state is not talking about issuing simple traffic infractions, but prosecuting people criminally (jail time, a criminal record, etc.) based solely on a photograph, with no human intervention. Where I come from (former New York prosecutor) a criminal prosecution must be based on non-hearsay evidence. That means a person has to swear that he saw someone commit a crime. The witness is then subject to cross-examination. Did he really see it? Could he have been mistaken? etc. Other evidence, like photos, can of course be used, but the heart of the case is the witness. I think what the Arizona AG is proposing is unconstitutional.
Several times I have mentioned an article in a pre-WW1 motoring magazine I have at home. It says that clergy agree that should a human being travel a mile a minute or faster that their souls will be ripped from their bodies and possibly lost forever. Stats on the German Autobahn show that the areas of that highway where there is no speed limit are slightly safer than US interstate highways with speed limits. Photo radar is a lazy way for municipalities to gather revenue. It does nothing to promote safety. I would cheerfully pay higher taxes to hire more police officers to nab drunk and agressive drivers. I have yet to see a photo radar unit catch a drunk.
Of course our industry loves photo radar because it gives us an excuse to raise rates. Shame on us!
JSW, the article does not say anyone will or can be prosecuted SOLELY on the photograph, but that the photograph can be PART of the evidence.
quote from article: “does not preclude the state from using photo radar evidence as part of the evidence necessary to establish an excessive speeding violation,” )
I think you missed the point. Some of these posters think speed limits are a bad thing. Everyone should do everything they want, when they want. They are like the townspeople in Blazing Saddles, salt of the earth, the common clay, you know, morons.
NO TICKETS IN 15 YRS. TILL TRAVELING THRU AZ. 70 MPH THEN DOWN TO 55 MPH GOT A 69 IN A 55 WHAT A SCAM ANYBODY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF I DONT PAY THE 181.50? I DONT PLAN ON RETURNING AFTER THIS ILL VACATION IN ANOTHER STATE IN MY RV I FEEL SORRY FOR RESIDIENTS WHOS THE GOV. HITLER
Here’s a novel idea, get rid of the unreasonably low speed limits and use the enforcement cameras to determine the avg speed road users are driving on that particular roadway.
That wouldn’t work, how would AZ generate revenue from ridiculous road taxes?
I’ve got a concern with the validity of these photo radar devices. Are these cameras high enough quality to present a clear image of who was driving the vehicle. I’d be pretty ticked if I got a $300 ticket in the mail because my brother borrowed my car. Now I would have to take a day off of work to go to court and dispute the fact that It wasn’t even me that was speeding.
Let me be the first to stand up and say as luld y and as enthusiastically as I can: “I love you Big Brother”!
(Maybe this will buy me a few more days of freedom before I am picked up and disappeared).
If you are not speeding you have nothing to worry about! If you are speeding you are breaking the law. If you robbed a bank and only got $1.00 would that make a difference?
Yes, the photos are very clear. Crystal.
If you were not the driver, you report to the MVD (have a lunch packed), show the ticket and pics and they will void the ticket – you do not have to go to court. Some municipalities require that you identify the driver in the picture however.
The freeway cameras are set to take your pic only if you’re 10+ miles over the speed limit. However often you will have just entered a construction zone and, since you haven’t dropped your speed immediately by 20 miles per hour, you may get a lovely picture in the mail. Ignore the ticket in the mail and Mr. Process Server may show up at your door to serve you. Don’t answer, and Mr. Police Officer may show up next.
They have skipped the mailing of tickets for some traveling 100+ mph and shown up to arrest them.
Here’s my remaining question to the state: how do I face my accuser?
Frankly the cameras do little to decrease the speeds on the freeways. They just cause congestion when everyone comes around a curve and hits their brakes so that they are 10 miles UNDER the speedlimit.
Maybe it is time to start wearing a Groucho Marx pair of glasses with the moustache. Let them try proving it wqas you and not Groucho
I’m no libertarian, but I think we should be concerned. The state is not talking about issuing simple traffic infractions, but prosecuting people criminally (jail time, a criminal record, etc.) based solely on a photograph, with no human intervention. Where I come from (former New York prosecutor) a criminal prosecution must be based on non-hearsay evidence. That means a person has to swear that he saw someone commit a crime. The witness is then subject to cross-examination. Did he really see it? Could he have been mistaken? etc. Other evidence, like photos, can of course be used, but the heart of the case is the witness. I think what the Arizona AG is proposing is unconstitutional.
Several times I have mentioned an article in a pre-WW1 motoring magazine I have at home. It says that clergy agree that should a human being travel a mile a minute or faster that their souls will be ripped from their bodies and possibly lost forever. Stats on the German Autobahn show that the areas of that highway where there is no speed limit are slightly safer than US interstate highways with speed limits. Photo radar is a lazy way for municipalities to gather revenue. It does nothing to promote safety. I would cheerfully pay higher taxes to hire more police officers to nab drunk and agressive drivers. I have yet to see a photo radar unit catch a drunk.
Of course our industry loves photo radar because it gives us an excuse to raise rates. Shame on us!
JSW, the article does not say anyone will or can be prosecuted SOLELY on the photograph, but that the photograph can be PART of the evidence.
quote from article: “does not preclude the state from using photo radar evidence as part of the evidence necessary to establish an excessive speeding violation,” )
I think you missed the point. Some of these posters think speed limits are a bad thing. Everyone should do everything they want, when they want. They are like the townspeople in Blazing Saddles, salt of the earth, the common clay, you know, morons.
Please stand back while “I whip this out”.
Thanks for the laugh NI
NO TICKETS IN 15 YRS. TILL TRAVELING THRU AZ. 70 MPH THEN DOWN TO 55 MPH GOT A 69 IN A 55 WHAT A SCAM ANYBODY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF I DONT PAY THE 181.50? I DONT PLAN ON RETURNING AFTER THIS ILL VACATION IN ANOTHER STATE IN MY RV I FEEL SORRY FOR RESIDIENTS WHOS THE GOV. HITLER