Speed cameras on the Loop 101 freeway will issue their last set of tickets for the year tonight, just before midnight. Workers will then proceed to cover the cameras -- but not remove them -- as the system's nine-month "test" period has expired. Officials have paid $75,000 for a study designed to show the system as effective that is expected to be released January.

Officials say they will wait for the result before deciding whether to continue the program, but city employees are already working on a long-term contract extension with Australia's Redflex, the for-profit company that operates all of Scottsdale's ticket cameras. The current contract does not expire until June 30, 2007.

Accidents had already been on a sharp decline months before speed cameras were activated. There were 403 collisions on the Scottsdale portion of Loop 101 in 2004, a number which dropped to 297 the following year.