Police say GV traffic cameras save lives

The Arizona Department of Public Safety says using traffic cameras to curb speeding is paying real dividends — saving lives.

In an announcement Monday, DPS also said a recent increase in the number of its officers is also paying safety dividends.

In a press release, DPS said, “Since the expansion of the photo enforcement program, collisions have been reduced above the trend of the last few years.”

During the first 80 days of the expanded program, said DPS, property crashes have been reduced by 12 percent, injury crashes by 17 percent and fatality crashes by 29 percent.

The figures are for the Phoenix area where most of the photo enforcement cameras are located.

The figures were for September through December.

The DPS said the “rollout of expanded photo enforcement” was Sept. 26.

DPS Lt. James Warriner said, from Phoenix, people were somewhat surprised at the size of the results.

“The program was doing exactly what it’s supposed to do,” said Warriner.

He said mobile traffic cameras have been deployed in the Green Valley area, along Interstate 19 and in the Nogales and Benson areas.

The cameras must pose a threat to some drivers. In the Phoenix area recently, a motorist stopped his car and attacked a traffic camera with a pickax. The camera caught the action for prosecution evidence.

However, the camera did automatically shut down for safety reasons, said Warriner, to prevent injury to anyone who might come up to it to look it over.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749