Another Arizona jurisdiction has joined Pinal County in refusing to accept photo radar ticketing. In December, Arrowhead Justice Court Judge John C. Keegan issued an order declaring the state’s freeway photo radar program unconstitutional. Since then, Judge Keegan has torn up at least 400 state-issued tickets, ruling them invalid for carrying penalties that differ from tickets issued by a “live” police officer.
“The clear meaning of these provisions of the Arizona and United States constitutions is that it is unconstitutional to create one set of laws that applies only to a particular class of defendant and not to other defendants based solely on the mechanism employed by the government,” Keegan ruled.
“Given the not uncommon set of circumstances where two drivers are traveling on the same highway, at the same speed in excess of the speed limit, at the same time, in essentially the same location and are cited by the same agency into the same court, [the freeway photo radar statute] ARS 41-1722 creates a distinction whereby one class of defendant is subjected to a significantly different array of penalties than another class of defendant based solely on the use of photo enforcement.”
Keegan is an elected justice of the peace for Maricopa County. His court has jurisdiction over north Glendale, Peoria, Sun City and Surprise. Any driver contesting a freeway speed camera ticket within this jurisdiction will have the $181 fine automatically dismissed.
“It is the determination of this court that the provisions of ARS 41-1722 are unconstitutional and unenforceable within the jurisdiction of this court,” Keegan concluded.
CameraFraud.com‘s Tucson affiliate praised Keegan for taking a stand.
“Finally, a judge with common sense who follows the Constitution,” wrote CameraFraud Tucson organizer Bill Conley.
[View the full text of the court order here.]
That’s interesting. The court finds an unconstitutionally unfair difference in penalty, NOT a difference in enforcement and conviction, as I thought the case might be.
Of course it’s unconstitutional under the US Constitution as well as the Arizona State Constitution! But I find the Judge’s reasoning to be interesting.
Watch them change the penalties to match. At the end of the day this is only a stop gap measure.
Kudos to the judge, he should run for higher office
This has been a news leader for a while here in Arizona. Best part is that the larger populated counties (my Maracopia) are starting to take in vary popular positions banning speed cameras on our freeways. If you want to put these stupid things on surface streets and school zones thats cool. Leave the freeways alone.
Driving out of the valley the other week I counted 16 cameras on one 20 mile stretch of the US60-I10. When cars see these things all they do is slam on their brakes and cause that wonderful accordion effect you get when there is an accident. Granted they give you a warning sign 200 yards before you get to the camera but its still very unsafe to have these on the road.
Another point, when these things go off at night your blind. At 11:30pm driving home from a party the car next to mine got flashed as it passed me on the correct side doing roughly 80mph (I was at 75). When the camera went off I was absolutely blinded for 4-5 seconds while doing 75mph with my pregnant wife next to me….on the freeway. Thanks city.
Death to the cameras. They have a little vent hole in the upper right corner. Expandable tire foam works great (or so I hear…..) as does clear sticky wrap over the camera or a old tire placed on top covered with a bed sheet soaked in gas (and match). Sorry
USMC4Hire – Those are the remedies in Britain.
The cost of precision optics vs that of rifle bullets may make continued operation uneconomical.
chaparral-
And I’m sure that they would work just as well here. Credit goes to Top Gear.
The tire and bed sheet combo happened here in AZ last month. I would love to shake that guys hand (even though I paid for the camera).
FYI: Not all the cameras are in vans like in the picture above (which just had a DUI operator a few months ago, in the camera van). The ones on freeways and traffic lights are in boxes. There are even 2 that look like a cactus.