New Study: Arizona Ticket Cameras Cost 28 Lives

I found this new report at photoradarscam.wordpress.com. They also link to the Arizona Department of Transportation website and I found something interesting. I'll comment on that after the report.

New Study: Arizona Ticket Cameras Cost 28 Lives!

A new report by Greg Mauz of the National Motorists Association focuses on the fraudulent camera scheme in Arizona. The result? Cameras are NOT saving lives in Arizona. They are responsible for over 28 extra fatalities! Download the report.

In his report, Mauz does an effective job of debunking the myths and propaganda reported by officials, such as:

“Exceeded lawful speed” caused ONLY 3.28% (58 of 1767) of fatal “driver errors” in Arizona Crash Facts Summary (2006, page 30). There occur less than 9 true speeding caused fatalities annually on ALL Arizona freeways.

“Slower traffic (by STC enforcement) improves safety.” False. Interrupting the faster, uniform flow of traffic causes serious crashes.

The ONLY WAY ticket cameras can usurp enough money for all cohorts to profit is through engineering malpractice – the deliberate, illegal under posting of speed limits (and yellow times at traffic signals) to entrap motorists for financial gains. It’s called FRAUD – a crime! Then, these law breaking -hypocrites violate people’s rights to due process, face their accusers and obtain a fair trial (5th, 6th and 14th Amendments). Then, there’s the burden of proof reversal (illegal) to coerce the 30% plus innocent vehicle owners into paying an unjust fine. Then, there’s the invisible violations, camera companies committing other crimes, civilian foreigners (Redflex) illegally enforcing U.S. laws for profit, using STCs for unauthorized spying, etc.

More than 25 studies (even several camera promoters ones!) reveal that cameras cause more fatalities. In fact, a 10 year analysis of U.S. signal‐related fatal crashes shows 600 more dead after ticket cameras proliferated (2001‐2006). “Camera Enforcement – A Picture of Fraud” proves from 7 different analyses that cameras cause more crashes, injuries and fatalities.

Now, Arizona maintains hundreds of red light cameras in at least 11 cities. The “life saving” results? From 1995‐2000 Arizona incurred 199 fatal disobeyed signal driver errors. After installing numerous RLTCs, 2001‐2006 recorded 227, for a +14% increase in red light violation deaths (+28). For comparison, Florida, despite gaining 3 million more drivers, recorded a ‐20% drop in disobeyed signal fatal factors from 2001‐2005 (‐125). Florida’s results were best in the nation and accomplished without ticket cameras (page 38, Mauz Report).

Speed cameras also Kill. Great Britain’s Department for Transport Report admits on page 43 that STCs caused a +31% increase in personal injury accidents along major highways. In construction zones with STCs, the increase was +55%.

Most studies contain years of data with control sites. The DPS [conflict of interest $$$] study covers a very inadequate 80 days, without control sites and they failed to document causation factors. Remember, only 3.28% “exceeded lawful speed.”

Red light violation crashes comprise a mere 1.5% of all crashes and a mere 2% of fatalities (U.S. AZ, FL, etc.).

Thousands of speed measurements from Phoenix area freeways confirm serious
engineering malpractice. When almost all average speeds exceed the speed limit, the limits are unethical at best or illegal at worst.

This is just a small sampling from the report. The report makes many observations and references this publication by ADOT: Establishing Speed Limits – A Case of “Majority Rule” [http://www.dot.state.az.us/Highways/Traffic/Speed.asp]. A very interesting portion of the ADOT web page says:

Public acceptance of these concepts [of establishing speed zones] is normally instinctive. However, the same public, when emotionally aroused in a specific instance, will often reject these fundamentals and rely instead on more comfortable and widely held misconceptions, such as:

1. Speed limit signs will slow the speed of traffic.
2. Speed limit signs will decrease the accident rate and increase safety.
3. Raising a posted speed limit will cause an increase in the speed of traffic.
4. Any posted speed limit must be safer than an unposted speed limit, regardless of the traffic and roadway conditions prevailing.

Wow, if people only understood how they were being manipulated and sold into this fraud, there would be riots in the streets. ADOT and DPS are perfectly aware of the widely held misconceptions used to exploit the public for blind trust and support of the photo enforcement programs. ADOT also clearly understands that the speed limits are set artificially low in areas where cameras are installed because the photo program wouldn’t generate as much money if limits where properly set at the 85th percentile speed. This appears to be engineering malpractice at its finest.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I went to the AZDOT website and beneath the section quoted in the above article I also found the following:

"Before and After" studies consistently demonstrate that there are no significant changes in traffic speeds following the posting of new or revised speed limits. Furthermore, no published research findings have established any direct relationship between posted speed limits and accident frequency, although short-term reductions have resulted from saturation enforcement efforts directed at speed and other traffic law violations.

Police agencies necessarily rely on reasonable and well recognized speed laws to control the unreasonable violator whose behavior is clearly out of line with the normal flow of traffic.

Contrary to popular belief, speed in itself is not a major cause of accidents. In fact, there is a consensus of professional opinions that many speed-related accidents result from both excessively low and high speeds.

It is accepted within the traffic engineering profession that there is a demonstrated need to produce as much uniformity as possible in the traffic flow and to eliminate the so-called speed trap. A speed trap may be defined as a street or road which is wide enough, straight and smooth enough, and sufficiently free of visibility limiting obstructions to permit driving a certain speed, but where the law nevertheless calls for a much lower speed. [emphasis mine]

These bastards outright admit what I've been saying all along! Speed has a very minor role in accidents! It's mostly operator error.

Something in Mauz's report I found very interesting as well. It seems that the speed limit on the Loop 101 is illegal because "over half of the drivers [drive] above 75 MPH...[t]his means the 65 Speed Limit is illegal! According to SL law (MUTCD 2B.11) the legal, proper (85th percentile) SL should be 80 MPH. The cameras have illegally entrapped over 90,000 drivers and extorted over $14 million."