State awards photo-enforcement contract 

Arizona's hasty drivers are a car-length closer to finding a surprise in their mailboxes after the state awarded a Scottsdale-based business a contract to monitor freeways and highways with 100 photo enforcement systems.

On July 17, the Arizona Department of Safety announced Scottsdale-based RedFlex Traffic Systems received the contract. Bids were sought earlier this year to implement up to 170 photo radar and red light enforcement systems.

The department expects about 50 systems to be operational throughout metropolitan Phoenix by January. Locations will be selected by examining serious injury and fatal collision data, according to DPS.

By January, 100 systems will be operating in Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson. RedFlex Traffic Systems will be paid $20 million to implement 60 stationary and 40 mobile units, and the Arizona Supreme Court Administrative Office of the Courts and DPS will receive a combined $6.2 million to administer the program.

DPS Director Roger Vanderpool characterized Arizona's statewide photo radar use as the "first of its kind in the nation" and claimed it will reduce injuries and fatal collisions on highways.

Motorists will be cited for driving 10 miles per hour above posted speed limits, according to the department, and under the new law, speeders will be fined $165.

The authority to blanket the state with devices snapping pictures of speeders and red-light runners was secured with the passing of budget agreement with legislators and the governor.

But support for statewide photo radar use is anything but universal, as legislators — typically Republican critics of Governor Janet Napolitano — blast it as an ineffective safety measure and an exploitive method to increase state revenue.

Details of the state's new statewide photo radar plan didn't help alleviate criticism. The new law prohibits courts that will handle the cases from informing the Department of Motor Vehicles of drivers' transgressions.

With MVD left out of the loop, companies that insure drivers will also be unable to identify high-risk speeders. The law is defended by the Governor's Office as a means to simplify the ticketing process and encourage drivers to pay up, but opponents claim it's proof-positive the primary goal is revenue, not safety.

Republican Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, characterized the program as "pure income" in late June.

"The money that comes from it doesn't even go to public safety," he said.

Profiting from photo radar systems has been hit or miss for Arizona's local governments that have enacted their own programs. Some, during select years, have produced deficits. And even positive financial reports obscure hidden administrative and prosecutorial costs, say court and city officials.

Court-levied surcharges on collected fines that help fund the courts and other programs have also taken a bite, but Arizona's new law leaves statewide photo radar revenue exempt from all diversions except to fund the state's system of publicly funded campaigns for statewide and legislative offices.

Before the session, the Governor's Office claimed statewide photo-enforcement use would make Arizona safer for driving – and help the strapped-for-cash state by adding approximately $90 million a year to the general fund during the 2009 fiscal year, with millions more to come years after.

Since then the office has distanced itself from revenue claims, citing the fact that photo radar would be getting a later then anticipated start in Arizona. Napolitano, during a July 16 press conference, reiterated her stance that safety is the first focus.

"We'll do this for a year or two," Napolitano said. "We'll see how it goes, but again, it's a very simple system and it's designed to deter speed. It also produces revenue, but the revenue that it produces was not included in balancing the '09 budget."

The law creates an account for revenues generated by the progra, and all funds exceeding $250,000 each calendar quarter will be swept into the state general fund. Money also will be set aside to help the Department of Public Safety pay for photo enforcement-related expenses.

Two other companies responded with offers to the request for proposals – American Traffic Solutions and Nestor Traffic Systems.

~Reporter Tasya Grabenstein contributed to this article.~