Years ago, maybe 20, metro Phoenix municipalities adopted red light cameras and automated radar speeding devices to snag recalcitrant drivers. These cameras were everywhere you drove, for awhile. I know one friend who was cited by three different speed cameras within a half hour. The law hadn't caught up with the new technology yet, and the public was pissed to say the least. The companies behind the traffic robots, of course, were lobbying the state and cities fiercely to maintain their extortion scheme. They claimed it was for safety, but the public and the courts weren't buying it. Most municipalities rejected the new scheme and canceled their contracts within a year or so. Most, that is, except Scottsdale.
Not only did Scottsdale double down, but in the time between then and now, they have carefully crafted a substantial revenue machine, a rackateering operation hiding behind the veneer of law and order. Of course, for the safety of it's citizens... right.
At the beginning of February, I was driving to my daughters house to give her a ride to the airport. It was a Sunday morning at 5:30am on the far east side of Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd that has two lanes in each direction, split by a wide median. The Phoenix Waste Management Golf tournament had ended the day before and there was zero traffic in either direction. It was very dark and my eyes, as usual, were scanning the road for surprises. I don't recall checking my speedometer at the time as I was focused on the road. My wife was riding along and we both saw the strobe flash off to the right. I didn't think much about it thinking they were probably still cleaning up from the Open. Two months later, I got the citation in the mail. It had a very grainy picture of me in the driver seat along with a clear photo of the rear license plate.
The citation provided 4 options:
Considering that my last traffic citation was 46 years ago, I felt a little insulted. I consider myself to be a skilled and conscientious driver, with a spotless 46 year record to prove it. I did a little research on speed traps and discovered an Arizona state statute that was ratified requiring city speed enforcement zones to precede the radar capture zone with not just 1, but 2 signs alerting drivers to the zone. I've seen plenty of speed traps over the years, and most if not all of them had very lit up signs to notify the driver day or night. Neither my wife nor I recall seeing any type of signage before the strobe.
Friends said I should merely ignore the citation as it had to be presented by a process server within 60 days of the court recording for the citation be legit. I ignored their advice opting to get out in front of the situation as I felt I had a strong case for dismissal if only I could argue my situation in front of a rational, breathing human being. I returned the form letter with the 'request a court hearing' option checked. Boy was I wrong.
On the scheduled date and time of my assigned court hearing, my wife and I arrived to the courthouse early. I was going call her as a witness to the missing signs. The court room felt like a funeral home, somber with the judge in the elevated position and a smattering of other traffic offenders sitting around the room. On the prosecutor side of the bench were two officers serving the position. Getting there early provided an opportunity to listen to other defendants plead their cases.
The first defendant was a young hispanic guy, dressed in a suit and sat straight and attentive with his hands clasped in front of him. After the prosecutor rattled off the allegations of the infraction, the judge followed by obviously reading verbatim some document on his computer monitor. I watched his eyes follow the words left to right as he spoke in a very low monotone. Then it was time for the 'hearing' part of the court. The judge asked if the kid had any questions for the prosecutor, which he had none. Then the kid tried to plead his case. Every sentence started and ended with a 'your honor.' He spoke very well and had spent time rehearsing for the judge, but was obviously scared shitless. He didn't contest the minor traffic violations, but instead cited some personal mental health issues he was enduring. His defense was aiming squarely for the mercy side of justice. When the defendant was finished, the judged moved his head slightly, focusing back on his computer monitor were he continued reading legal goo that I'm sure went right over the head of the defendant. The judge continued droning his legal cover from whatever he was reading on his monitor. The final verdict was 'guilty' without an ounce of human consideration.
The next defendant appeared to be a middle aged businessman. The same verbatim bullshit was read by officer Bagodonuts and judge Beuhler. The man was in a similar case to mine, tagged by a speed robot and citing the same signage statute that was also my defense. Before he finished, the other prosecutor asked me to join him for a brief meeting in a separate room.
He started with verification, showing me grainy photos from the speed robot as well as my drivers license, all affirmed. When I asked him about the missing signs he showed me the documentation and the log from the speed trap. The documentation showed that it was a temporary speed zone, having been setup just 9 days before my citation and removed the day after my citation. The only proof of lawful speed zone signs was a photo taken on the day the speed radar was setup. The photo showed a close-up of the sign taken on a bright and sunny day, clear blue skies. I asked the officer to produce evidence that the radar had been calibrated and the signs hadn't changed, but he had none. Even the checklist that the radar operator is suppposed to complete upon removal of the radar had no item referencing signs. I asked him why, and he chuckled and said the technician would have made a note on the checklist if the signs were missing at time of removal.
I realized that I was cooked, but the prosecutor said I could still opt for driving school. I told him that I accepted the terms of the hearing, which I thought was forfeiture of my school option. He said that the judge would still grant that option, to which my wife commented about the apparent grift under foot. The prosecutor chuckled again. The irony is that the traffic school cost is about the same amount as the fine. Get flashed, pay money. That's the Scottsdale way.
Here I sit at my computer doing on-line traffic school. It's designed not to teach you anything, rather it's to punish you by making you spend 4 hours of 15 minute waiting periods. Basically, you're given a couple paragraphs of high school driver text followed by 3 or 4 stupid questions. It's an inane waste of time with questions like:
WHAT IS A CERTIFIED IGNITION INTERLOCK DEVICE?
In conclusion, my recommendations for driving through Scottsdale: