Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1283.asp

8/11/2006

Arizona: Speed Camera Hits Woman for $11,000 Jackpot
Scottsdale, Arizona hopes to collect $11,000 from just one woman who was mailed 69 photo traffic tickets.

The city of Scottsdale, Arizona claims that just one woman racked up $11,000 in freeway speed camera tickets since March. Chandler resident Francesca Cisneros, 32, appeared in city court yesterday on charges that could result in a jail sentence. Cisneros ignored the photo tickets when they came in the mail.

The automated ticket machines claimed her 2002 Honda Civic was speeding on the freeway sixty-four times. Her car was also photographed four times by side-street speed cameras and once by a red light camera. The accuracy of the system is called into question by the city's claim that a rental Hyundai was "caught" at a speed 10 MPH faster than it is capable of reaching.

Cisneros will return to court to face criminal charges for reckless driving at up to 86 MPH in a 65 zone. The extra 10 MPH turns the offense into something the city has arrested motorists for based solely on the photographs. Scottsdale, however, does not apply the law to police officers who speed up to 117 MPH on the freeway, even when there is no emergency. The city installed the cameras earlier this year hoping to collect $20 million in annual revenue.

Source: Woman ignores 69 tickets (Arizona Republic, 8/11/2006)

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