From todays LA Times
A masked man, a citizens group, a judge and other motorists are behind the fight against photo enforcement.
... since the Grand Canyon State began enforcing speed limits with roadside cameras, motorists are raging against the machines: They have blocked out the lenses with Post-it notes or Silly String. During the Christmas holidays, they covered the cameras with boxes, complete with wrapping paper.
One dissenting citizen went after a camera with a pick ax.
Arizona is the only state to implement "photo enforcement," as it's known, on major highways and is one of 12 states and 52 communities, plus the District of Columbia, with speed cameras, according to the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In California, speed cameras are illegal, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a program to add speed enforcement capabilities to 500 red-light cameras to generate $338 million for the 2010-11 budget. The proposal is unlikely to be a part of the Legislature's upcoming budget recommendations.
California State Assembly Budget Committee Chairwoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) has described the proposal as "silly."
"It's using big-brother tactics to balance the state budget," she said. "It's outlandish."
That's certainly been the reaction in Arizona, where the cameras have incited a mini revolt.
Initially, the cameras were thought of as a revenue generator, expected to bring in more than $90 million in the first fiscal year of operation.
But from October 2008, when the program began, to October 2009, the cameras generated about $19 million for the state's cash-strapped general fund, according to a report on photo radar released by the Arizona Office of the Auditor General last month.
Among the dissenters fighting photo enforcement are members of a citizens group, the Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar.
In Maricopa County -- where 92% of Arizona's violations occur -- volunteers have been on the streets for about a year, gathering signatures for a 2010 ballot initiative to remove the cameras. On a December afternoon, Shawn Dow, chairman of the group, and two volunteers gathered signatures at an Arizona State University basketball game.
A masked man, a citizens group, a judge and other motorists are behind the fight against photo enforcement.
... since the Grand Canyon State began enforcing speed limits with roadside cameras, motorists are raging against the machines: They have blocked out the lenses with Post-it notes or Silly String. During the Christmas holidays, they covered the cameras with boxes, complete with wrapping paper.
One dissenting citizen went after a camera with a pick ax.
Arizona is the only state to implement "photo enforcement," as it's known, on major highways and is one of 12 states and 52 communities, plus the District of Columbia, with speed cameras, according to the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In California, speed cameras are illegal, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a program to add speed enforcement capabilities to 500 red-light cameras to generate $338 million for the 2010-11 budget. The proposal is unlikely to be a part of the Legislature's upcoming budget recommendations.
California State Assembly Budget Committee Chairwoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) has described the proposal as "silly."
"It's using big-brother tactics to balance the state budget," she said. "It's outlandish."
That's certainly been the reaction in Arizona, where the cameras have incited a mini revolt.
Initially, the cameras were thought of as a revenue generator, expected to bring in more than $90 million in the first fiscal year of operation.
But from October 2008, when the program began, to October 2009, the cameras generated about $19 million for the state's cash-strapped general fund, according to a report on photo radar released by the Arizona Office of the Auditor General last month.
Among the dissenters fighting photo enforcement are members of a citizens group, the Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar.
In Maricopa County -- where 92% of Arizona's violations occur -- volunteers have been on the streets for about a year, gathering signatures for a 2010 ballot initiative to remove the cameras. On a December afternoon, Shawn Dow, chairman of the group, and two volunteers gathered signatures at an Arizona State University basketball game.
