Arizonans Speak: Road Safety Cameras Stay!

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - July 3, 2010: Efforts by opponents of Arizona’s photo enforcement programs fell significantly short of gathering the required number of signatures to qualify for a statewide referendum to ban photo enforcement on the November 2010 ballot.

“After nearly two years of attempts to undo Arizona’s highly successful road safety camera programs, the anti-photo enforcement coalition was unable to garner enough support to even meet the minimum standard to qualify for placement on the November ballot,” said George Hittner, General Counsel and Vice President of Government Relations for American Traffic Solutions Inc. “Our consistent position that the overwhelming majority of Arizona citizens strongly support road safety camera programs has again been confirmed by the fact that less than 1.8 percent of Arizonans supported CameraFraud’s 2-year effort.

In a 2009 poll, 84 percent of Arizonans expressed their strong support for intersection safety camera programs and believed city police departments should continue to use cameras to issue tickets to red-light runners. Most of Arizona’s major cities, including Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale, Tempe and Chandler use cameras as a deterrent to reduce red-light running and save lives. This same poll showed that speed camera programs carry similar support with more than six out of ten Arizona voters favoring their use.

Road Safety Camera programs have been increasing safety throughout the state. For example, in Tucson, fixed-speed safety cameras have reduced “excessive speeding” by as much as 90 percent at some camera sites, and red-light running violations have decreased by over 29 percent in the first year of operation across all enforced locations. Likewise, Mesa experienced a 45 percent decrease in red-light running violations since 2007. Mesa PD also reports significant improvement in voluntary compliance with posted school zone speed limits near Rhodes Junior High, where previously 85 percent of the drivers exceeded posted speed limits by more than 10 miles per hour prior to the installation of Speed Safety Cameras.

“Groups like CameraFraud have consistently aligned with organizations such as the National Motorists Association and other groups representing extreme viewpoints of the population that are against most common-sense forms of driver safety laws and programs, including helmet laws, seat belt laws, DUI checkpoints, speed limits and air bags. The inability of CameraFraud to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot is a strong indicator that the public supports road safety camera programs to increase safety and deter dangerous driving behaviors,” Hittner said.