Bob Burd wrote:

McCannster wrote:Yeah, if you make them believe you weren't the driver, they can't ticket you. Ben did just that when a red light camera caught him

As part of that defense, they require you to send them in an enlarged copy of your driver's license. Mine has an uncanny resemblance to the guy they caught speeding on their freeways.

Do many people drive around Phoenix in disguise? Faux mustache and plastic nose? What about warpaint?

First one of these I got was in Canada. My whole family has the propensity to speed. I lay most of the blame on the fact that we grew up in a rural section of the Midwest where the roads were no doubt dangerous, but you simply did not get anywhere or anything done if you did not drive fast. There were no interstates.

So upon getting my first photo ticket in Calgary, Alberta, I wrote quite the satire email and sent it out to my cohorts in crime, mostly my brother and father, both of which have battled the speed ticket issue much more than I. I copied a few other folks because I thought it was a funny piece. One of those was my wife's grandmother who has never left Charleston, SC.

When you get a ticket in Alberta, it has some gibberish about "the Queen requests your presence". Thus, in my satire piece, I referenced that the program my brother, father and I had been longing for in the states was now in place in Canada. I stated that one could pay for the privilege to speed as endorsed and worked out with the Queen's bench. That is the way I saw the photo radar issue, quite efficient really. You are totally welcome to speed, you just pay extra "taxes" every year in the form of tickets. No mark against your insurance (the way they were doing it up there at that time). You paid for the privilege to speed. We had always joked that the Midwest states who are somewhat infamous for speed traps on certain two lane highways, could have been more efficient allowing one to pay a premium for a certain license plate that allowed him/her to speed.

My wife's grandmother took the whole email quite literally and thought I had devised some scheme with the Queen to allow Americans to pay to speed when in Canada. That took some unwinding and explantion of the story by my wife.

MOCKBA wrote:

Bob Burd wrote:

McCannster wrote:Yeah, if you make them believe you weren't the driver, they can't ticket you. Ben did just that when a red light camera caught him

As part of that defense, they require you to send them in an enlarged copy of your driver's license. Mine has an uncanny resemblance to the guy they caught speeding on their freeways.

Do many people drive around Phoenix in disguise? Faux mustache and plastic nose? What about warpaint?

The only situation that this trick would actually work is if the camera didn't capture your entire face.

Bob Burd wrote: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.

Just don't get pulled over in AZ. Given the interlinked databases that allowed them to mail you a ticket, a patrol officer would have your mailed ticket in hand before he walked to your window. I suspect the failure to pay fine is MUCH bigger than the original.

Best of Luck

Don't pay, if it's your first offense that won't do anything to you. They've got those in flagstaff now too, just on I-40, so nobody I know ever is around them anyway.

I think we'll all have trouble sleeping tonight, knowing that the state of
Arizona is in a financial pickle.

The Governor of Arizona is asking for a new tax on haircuts.

Geez, if you're a bald person, you won't have to pay the extra tax.

What will happen next? Is everybody going to shave their heads, and
run to the tattoo parlour for a spanking new butterfly tattoo ???

I've seen stranger things happen, believe me ...

So what happened Bob?

Have your scofflaw ways caught up to you?

Dave K wrote:So what happened Bob?

Have your scofflaw ways caught up to you?

Matter of fact, they did.
I was having a nice quiet Saturday at home with the family when a complete stranger knocks on the door and asks if I'm Robert Burd. Upon confirming, he serves me a copy of the ticket. I was rather surprised. He was nice enough and I asked him some questions. He wasn't from AZ, but local in Santa Clara Co. He says he served 50 county residents for AZ speeding tickets last month. So apparently there are enough scofflaws like myself to make it worthwhile for AZ to find out-of-state court officers to serve notices in person. Funny thing was, he only served one of the two tickets I got on the same day. Will he come back tomorrow?

I'm not sure what I'll do at this point. $181 per ticket is still more than I want to donate to AZ's Financial Recovery Plan. I suppose I should find out what happens if I get pulled over with unpaid tickets while in AZ. Do they toss me in jail?

Bob Burd wrote:I suppose I should find out what happens if I get pulled over with unpaid tickets while in AZ. Do they toss me in jail?

I always DON'T ignore tickets in western states, because I travel a lot in the West and care a lot about those travels, and I don't want to worry every time I do.

In Louisiana, I blew off a retarded 80/65 ticket on the Interstate because it was 36 years until the first time I went there, and it may be that long before I go back, if ever. . . . And because the cop was retarded. . . . And because the clerk was an unprofessional mess when I called the court. . . . And because the ticket stated a warrant will be issued for Louisiana residents who don't pay.

But even when I do go back, I can still rent a car and drive just fine, because I have a valid drivers license. The best-case scenario is I drive all around and don't get pulled over, and nothing happens. The worst-case scenario is I get pulled over and arrested and have to pay the fines, and they let me go.

Personally, in Arizona, I would pay it. But if you're NOT going to pay it, my advice is to just carry a big credit card with you when you go back.

That's irritating as hell, and one of the main reasons why those bullshit cameras are BULLSHIT.

You should fight it, of course, but you're fucked either way. You either pay $181, or you waste at least a day of your time, and a day's pay, going to court to fight it. (If you use a day of vacation time, you either have to take one day less actual vacation, or you wind up taking a day unpaid.)

Absolute bullshit. And you officials in municipalities who use this are a bunch of PUSSIES.

jhodlof, did you have a front plate? If one doesn't have a front plate, is there another camera that captures the rear plate? I don't have a front plate, of course. Heh heh. And next time I drive I-40 through Flag, I'm going to remove or cover up my rear plate for the stretch, drive 130 mph through that fascist craphole, and then put the plate back or uncover it afterward.

I sneaked back into the state a week ago to climb Tipton and Perkins, though not so sneaky since I was driving the same van I was caught on film with. Managed to escape in broad daylight though without drawing undo attention from several patrol cars that went by. I figured if I was close enough to the Colorado River I could gun it for the border and take my chances with the CHP on the other side. Those AZ coppers will never take me alive!

So it seems now they supplemented the fixed cameras with unmanned vans (hwy patrol markings) parked along the freeway with the set up (I assume radar & camera?) mounted on a 15 foot pole. Shitton of those (& good old fashion speed traps as well) on I10 bet. Phoenix & Tucson. Is speeding really the biggest issue AZ contends with??
So fucking silly.

rpc wrote:So it seems now they supplemented the fixed cameras with unmanned vans (hwy patrol markings) parked along the freeway with the set up (I assume radar & camera?) mounted on a 15 foot pole. Shitton of those (& good old fashion speed traps as well) on I10 bet. Phoenix & Tucson. Is speeding really the biggest issue AZ contends with??
So fucking silly.

It's a money grab, nothing more. Those cops would be screwed if everyone drove the speed limit because speed enforcement is the bulk of what they do. Without speed enforcement, they could cut their force by at least half. And without all the tickets, they wouldn't have the money to pay all those salaries anyway.

So next time a cop tries to pretend you've been a "naughty boy" and it's dangerous for you to go 85 in a 75 on the Interstate in a 3500-pound sports car, while 50,000-pound semi-trucks are going unticketed at 80, just laugh in his face and know he's full of shit. Those guys would be unemployed if not for their pussy speeding-ticket revenue.

Yep, it is a money thing. This is from an article in 2008:

Napolitano's January budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes $90 million of new revenue from camera-produced citations, and she said Wednesday she will continue to urge legislators to approve the project.

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