It has just been revealed that the company hired by the state to operate the cameras is recording 24-7 and keeping the data. The company, RedFlex Traffic Systems, advertises that it has the ability to scan the license plate of every car that passes the cameras. This would allow for a database to be created capable of tracking people’s locations at any given time while on freeways.
Source.
According to this AZCentral.com article, 53,218 citations were issued from a single camera near the intersection of University and Rio Salado Parkway in 2008.
That’s just one camera! Another 20,764 citations were issued from another camera AT THE SAME INTERSECTION!
I’m not sure how much the average cost for either a red light or speeding photo ticket is but let’s assume it’s $150. Also, although I don’t think the cameras at that intersection have been there all year, let’s assume the have.
53,218 + 20,764=73,982
73,982 tickets issued at a single intersection.
73,982 / 365 = 203 (rounded)
On average there were 203 tickets a day issued.
That’s about 8 tickets an hour. Anybody ever driven through that intersection before the cameras? Anyone ever thought it was so dangerous to warrant 8 tickets to be issued EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY FOR A YEAR???
That’s about $30,000 worth of tickets a day.
Here’s some more speed camera links:
In an aknowledgement of just how people really feel about speed cameras, Holland is installing cameras that are bombproof.
Here’s another example of how people feel about speed cameras.
And here’s a site that allows you to share camera locations with friends.