The Associated Press
LAW AND ORDER REPORT
The Associated Press
SUN CITY – The Arizona Department of Public Safety is installing three speed cameras on the Loop 101 freeway near 75th, 59th and 35th avenues.
The installation is part of a nine-camera project that will include other locations on the Loop 101 on the west side of metropolitan Phoenix. The cameras will be operational by Oct. 22, said DPS Lt. James Warriner.
Other locations include the Loop 101 southbound at Bethany Home, Indian School and McDowell Roads and Interstate 10 at 287th Avenue, Miller Road and Watson Road.
The cameras will photograph motorists traveling 10 mph or more above the posted 65 mph speed limit. They are designed to curb speeding and unsafe driving in those areas, among the most dangerous along the freeway, Warriner said.
“Our goal is to try to get traffic to slow down in those areas to allow the motoring public to merge or transition from one freeway to another without injury or collisions,” he said.
The statewide photo enforcement program started late last month and should have 40 mobile units and 60 fixed cameras within several months. Arizona’s program is the first such statewide deployment by a U.S. state, although similar programs are used in other countries.
Unlike other speed camera programs where motorists are given a grace period before citations are issued, Warriner said these cameras will begin targeting speeding drivers as soon as they are operational.
“The speeds are very clearly posted and have been for years,” he said. “When they’re up, they’re running. When they go live, they go live.”
State law sets the program’s photo-enforcement citations at a flat $165, plus a 10 percent surcharge for a voter-mandated public campaign funding system. The tickets will not count as points on a driver’s record.