Tempe police have issued 12,000 warnings for speeding in the last three weeks thanks to recently installed photo radar cameras.
The three fixed-speed cameras, along with seven red light and speed-on-green cameras, are currently in a 30-day warning period where violators are receiving notices in the mail. But starting Saturday, drivers will begin to receive $161 citations for speeding or running red lights, said Sgt. Mike Horn, Tempe Police Department spokesman.
From Nov. 1 to Nov. 15, there were 2,941 warnings sent out from the northbound fixed traffic camera on the 200 block of South Rural Road between Rio Salado Parkway and Rural Road, Horn said.
Horn also said there were 1,761 warnings for the southbound camera on the 500 block of South Rural Road between Rio Salado Parkway and Rural Road, and 3,556 warnings for the southbound camera on the 600 block of South Priest Drive between University Drive and Rio Salado Parkway.
The police department determined the location of the cameras based on traffic studies that looked at areas where collisions occur and where the city has received complaints, said Redflex Traffic Systems spokesman Michael Ferraresi.
"At Sixth Street and Rural Road you come off of the freeway and two blocks later you're right at University Drive, and there's a lot of people jogging and on bicycles," Ferraresi said. "It's a helpful reminder before you approach the campus to take note of your speed and be careful."
The city is not expecting additional income to come from the traffic cameras, Horn said.
"The reason for the cameras is to slow people down, to stop them from running red lights, to reduce the number of collisions and injuries or fatalities that occur," Horn said. "We want the community to understand it's about safety and it's not about money."
Not all of the intersection cameras have been operational, he said. All but one will start issuing citations sometime in next month, but Horn said he was not sure what camera it would be.
The Tempe Police Department will also continue to deploy their two speed enforcement vans in multiple locations throughout the city, Horn added. The locations of the vans are updated weekly on the Tempe Police Department Web site.
"We want people to know where these locations are because we want people to slow down," Horn said.
He said there are two signs placed before the photo radar vans to warn drivers the photo enforcement will be coming up.
"Our goal is to have people slow down and pay attention, and if we were out just to catch people all the time we wouldn't put all of these warnings," Horn said. "We're giving multiple opportunities for people to wake up and pay attention and slow down."
Ferraresi said the new digital technology captures stills of the driver, the driver's face and the rear license plate. He said at the same time the cameras catch a digital video of the driver running a red light or speeding.
"We have that digital, high resolution evidence and it's difficult to contest in court," Ferraresi said.
Photo enforcement is designed to save lives and prevent accidents, he said.
"We take pride in helping communities develop these programs to protect their motorists," Ferraresi said. "Red light running and speeding is a serious problem in Arizona and the U.S. and these are just additional tools that law enforcement can use to prevent the impact of dangerous driving."
Reach the reporter at heather.m.turner@asu.edu.
