Red light cameras didn’t work out too well in Tucson, Arizona. As Patrick McNamara of the Arizona Daily Star writes, voters in the Old Pueblo made it loud and clear at the ballot box in November that they no longer wanted their vehicles recorded at intersections.
As a result, cameras were removed from two dozen intersections across the city. But motorists still see them seemingly monitoring their every move. So what gives?
The Tucson Department of Transportation told McNamara the cameras are no longer active, and some are only empty camera. But McNamara pointed out that proposed legislation at the State Capital in Phoenix could bring back on-road surveillance in the form of school bus illegal passing cameras.
See a Map of Arizona Intersections with Red-Light Cameras
HB 2366 has yet to be filed, and there is some question if it ever will be, but the premise appears to be similar to laws enacted in 14 states nationwide. School districts would be allowed to install video cameras to capture images of motorists ignoring school bus stops and, as a result, partner with local law enforcement in issuing tickets.
McNamara reports that the bill proposes to only require that the vehicle license plate be taken, and it would remove a requirement to identify the driver. It would also exempt first responders who are “in the line of duty.”
Comments on the Daily Star’s Facebook page ran the gamut of outrage over big government entrapment to calls for money being spent on larger issues facing students in school buses to support for school bus drivers. One reader even posted that he hopes school bus cameras can record “abusive kids also … Drivers have a seriously tough job.”
See a Map of States with Current Illegal Passing Enforcement Laws
