Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2636.asp

12/24/2008

Arizona Speed Camera Contract Can be Canceled
Contract documents show Arizona can cancel freeway photo radar program without penalty.

There will be no financial penalty if activists in the state of Arizona succeed in efforts to cancel outgoing Governor Janet Napolitano's controversial freeway speed camera program. A review of the July 18 contract between the state Department of Public Safety and Australian speed camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems shows that lawmakers can bow to public pressure and end photo ticketing without facing any early termination fees.

"The state reserves the right to terminate the contract, in whole or in part at any time, when in the best interests of the state, without penalty or recourse," section 9.4 of the contract states. "Upon receipt of the written notice, the contractor shall stop all work, as directed in the notice... The contractor shall be entitled to receive just and equitable compensation for work in progress, work completed and materials accepted before the effective date of the termination."

Calls for ending the program continue to grow louder. At the beginning of the new year, the group CameraFraud.com will unveil a proposed referendum that would ban photo ticketing in Arizona. More than 650 residents have signed up to help collect signatures for the petition effort. Other individuals have turned to vigilante tactics to pressure local and state officials, including a pickaxe attack, a Santa Claus attack, and covering camera lenses with Post-It Notes and silly string.

Stopping the program for good would still deal a severe blow to the state which is counting on freeway ticketing to close a massive budget gap. According to contract documents, each freeway speed camera is expected to issue 3000 tickets per month. Redflex will initially deploy 100 cameras, although the agreement allows expansion to 200 cameras statewide. The state and Redflex estimate pulling in $282,600 per camera each month, or a total of $340 million per year for the fully deployed system.

"Our audited system performance statistics are industry leading, typically providing 30-50 percent greater system performance and citation generation yields than our competition," Redflex boasts in the contract.

As a reward for its citation generating prowess, Redflex will pocket $28.75 for every citation the company is able to create. The bounty drops to $16.95 after a camera issues its first 1500 tickets for the month. In return, Redflex promises to maintain a 85 percent ticket issuance quota, ensuring a steady stream of revenue to the state.

Excerpts from the Arizona DPS contract with Redflex are available in a 750k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Statewide Traffic Photo Enforcement System Contract, L8-022 (Arizona Department of Public Safety, 7/18/2008)

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