SummitPost.org

Certainly not the mountains. After a fairly successful week of driving around the state chasing DPS peaks, I came home to a letter from the AZ Department of Public Safety that I have been somewhat of a public nuisance, and the cost of driving 67mph in a 55mph zone is a whopping $181. It might have helped if I clued in that the state has these photo radar detectors all over the Phoenix area, but, well, I was clueless.

So my question is, do people just suck it up and pay these things? Seems like highway robbery, literally, and I find it disconcerting that my own state of CA would cooperate with such tactics by providing vehicle and owner ID. And should I buy stock in the company that makes the Redflex Smartcam Mobile Speed Van System? Because it seems like these things could pay for themselves in about an hour's time.

Damn, Boulder only charges $40.

First indication for us came this Xmas/New Years when everyone on the highway was going at limit + 4mph esp. (but NOT only) in the Phoenix area...then the flashes started. Fortunately, it was the people in the front (I think??). On Phoenix freeways, it seems they have this set up every couple miles (center divider).

Pretty fvcked up really...

Well it seems pretty simple how to avoid these kind of tickets... "Speed Limit" not "Speed Suggestion"

Bob Burd wrote:Certainly not the mountains. After a fairly successful week of driving around the state chasing DPS peaks, I came home to a letter from the AZ Department of Public Safety that I have been somewhat of a public nuisance, and the cost of driving 67mph in a 55mph zone is a whopping $181. It might have helped if I clued in that the state has these photo radar detectors all over the Phoenix area, but, well, I was clueless.

So my question is, do people just suck it up and pay these things? Seems like highway robbery, literally, and I find it disconcerting that my own state of CA would cooperate with such tactics by providing vehicle and owner ID. And should I buy stock in the company that makes the Redflex Smartcam Mobile Speed Van System? Because it seems like these things could pay for themselves in about an hour's time.

I got one of those last year. I forgot about paying it and then one day it surfaced at the bottom of my "to do" pile. I called the sheriff's office to pay it and the lady said it had been dropped because I live out of state. She explained that the cost of servicing the ticket directly to my house, to assure that I got it, was not worth the cost because I was out of state, so they dropped it. I don't know if that is still their policy. Maybe just dumb luck on my part.

rpc wrote:First indication for us came this Xmas/New Years when everyone on the highway was going at limit + 4mph esp. (but NOT only) in the Phoenix area...then the flashes started. Fortunately, it was the people in the front (I think??). On Phoenix freeways, it seems they have this set up every couple miles (center divider).
Pretty fvcked up really...

Do they really ticket for someone just 4mph over? I would think the accuracy of the measurements would not be that good.

I have managed to avoid Phoenix altogether - I remember the "road rage" I experienced
there the last time, in that unholy "sewer hole" of oppressive HEAT & utter chaos.

You have to remember that the former governor of AZ left the place in outrageous DEBT,
just so she could "rub elbows" with the good folks in Washington D.C.

Like it or not, BIG brother is still watching ...

Makes me want to INVEST in a big steaming pile of BAT GUANO !!!


"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."

(Pink Floyd - 1973)

What's the law there on radar jammers?

drjohnso1182 wrote:What's the law there on radar jammers?

Aren't many speed detectors now based on laser Doppler?

An interesting read...

http://veilguy.blogspot.com/2008/02/arizona-photo-enforcement-citation-loop.html

A much more tragic read from today's Arizona news ...


http://www.kpho.com/traffic/19225588/detail.html

marauders wrote:I got one of those last year. I forgot about paying it and then one day it surfaced at the bottom of my "to do" pile. I called the sheriff's office to pay it and the lady said it had been dropped because I live out of state. She explained that the cost of servicing the ticket directly to my house, to assure that I got it, was not worth the cost because I was out of state, so they dropped it. I don't know if that is still their policy. Maybe just dumb luck on my part.

This may be the ticket (ha ha!).
The citation came in a standard envelope with 42 cents of postage. I think I may just claim I never received it, push come to shove. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time. It cost me $90 (roughly) in gas to drive to Phoenix from San Jose, so I doubt they'll be sending someone out to serve me personally. Maybe they can find me on Mt. Tipton next November.

Bob Burd wrote:

marauders wrote:I got one of those last year. I forgot about paying it and then one day it surfaced at the bottom of my "to do" pile. I called the sheriff's office to pay it and the lady said it had been dropped because I live out of state. She explained that the cost of servicing the ticket directly to my house, to assure that I got it, was not worth the cost because I was out of state, so they dropped it. I don't know if that is still their policy. Maybe just dumb luck on my part.

This may be the ticket (ha ha!).
The citation came in a standard envelope with 42 cents of postage. I think I may just claim I never received it, push come to shove. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time. It cost me $90 (roughly) in gas to drive to Phoenix from San Jose, so I doubt they'll be sending someone out to serve me personally. Maybe they can find me on Mt. Tipton next November.

Well hopefully if you have to claim you never got it they don't see this thread.

The image below is linked from my profile. It is a bill from Switzerland for 625 Swiss francs, which is over $500 U.S. for going 26 km (16 mph) over the limit on a limited-access highway, where the speed limit dropped for a tunnel. And it was 04:55, on a rural road with no traffic.

They used those automatic cameras, and they got my address from the car-rental company.

Of course I didn't pay it. Maybe if I go to Switzerland again, I will have to worry, but otherwise, they have absolutely no recourse. Only one sentence on the entire thing is in English, asking me to transfer funds "on [sic] the following bank." The rest is all in Nazi, so I have no idea what it says, except for the numbers.

If it were for something legitimate, like illegal parking or speeding in a residential area, I would feel inclined to pay it. But speeding tickets for moderate speeds on limited access highways are bullshit. And ANY ticket is bullshit if the municipality uses those dumbass cameras, instead of having a cop present to use some discretion and judgement.

They sent me letters two times with international postage, with absolutely no return on their investment. Ha ha. Unfortunately, the money they are collecting from their local sorry suckers is more than financing their money-grab operation. But there is nothing I can do to help those people.