AAA: Are speed cameras really saving lives?

A prominent motorists' advocacy group questioned on Tuesday the state's methods in determining how speed enforcement cameras save three lives a month in the Valley.

Officials: Freeway cameras save 3 lives a month

In doing so, AAA Arizona waded into the politically charged fray over whether the freeway cameras increase safety, as touted by their proponents, or simply siphon money from drivers, as their critics accuse.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety issued the day before a news release stating fatal collisions on Valley freeways, in an 80-day period ending on Dec. 16, are down by nearly 30 percent compared with last year.

AAA Arizona’s director of public affairs, Linda Gorman, took pains to point out the organization supports photo enforcement, but only if the system is fair to everyone and maximizes safety benefits.

But Gorman said she believed it was unclear how DPS reached its conclusions, especially when compared to the thoroughness and transparency of past studies.

“Our issue isn’t so much to challenge the numbers, but just to ask the question … how is photo enforcement being attributed to that reduction,” she said.

Gorman noted the state’s photo enforcement pilot program, operating on Loop 101 in Scottsdale for much of 2006, was followed by months of research from an Arizona State University expert. The result was an inches-thick bound study, which concluded that the average speed slowed by 9 mph, yet drivers could travel through the stretch more quickly because of a reduction in collisions. While the overall number and severity of collisions declined, the study found rear-end crashes increased.

By comparison, DPS needed only a two-page document to announce its findings: “Since the expansion of the Photo Enforcement Program, collisions have been further reduced above the trend of the last few years.”

DPS spokesman Lt. Jeff King said he didn’t know why AAA Arizona would question the study.

“It’s saving lives,” King said. “It’s a no-brainer.”

Gorman wanted to know, among other questions:

• How DPS accounts for other factors that weren’t in place last year, such as the Teenage Driver Safety and tougher DUI laws, but also may attribute to the reduction in crashes?

• As many of the cameras weren’t operational during the 80-day review period, how is DPS accounting for this?

• Which area constituted “the Valley” in determining the number of crashes there?

King said the DPS study encompassed almost all of Maricopa County, minus the Gila Bend area, plus a slice of southern Yavapai County.

King said he would be contacting Gorman soon.

Photo enforcement promises to be a hot issue when the Legislature convenes next month.

Gov. Janet Napolitano is a big booster of the statewide program, but she is leaving Arizona to lead the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration.

During the 2008 legislative session, several bills that would kill or limit photo radar died.

Two East Valley business owners have launched an initiative drive that would outlaw photo radar and similar systems. If their petition gets enough valid signatures, the measure would be on the November 2010 ballot.