Earlier this year, a group called Tucson Traffic Justice collected 50,000 signatures in support of a petition to place a proposition on the fall ballot to ban red light cameras. The city council voted unanimously to place Proposition 201 on the ballot and let the voters decide the fate of Tucson’s red light cameras. Following the November 3rd election, voters overwhelmingly voted to ban red light cameras in Tucson with approximately 65% of voters supporting the proposition.

Proposition 201 succeeded despite strong opposition from the government and its cronies, who were concerned about the loss of income if voters decided to ban red light cameras. The mayor, the police department, and of course American Traffic Solutions, the private company who operates the cameras, lobbied hard to maintain their stream of ill-gotten income. These charlatans spouted the same tired lie about how red light cameras reduce accident rates, which has been proven to not be true. For more information about how red light cameras do not reduce accidents, and in some cases increase the number of accidents, read our post here. Photo enforcement is all about revenue generation. That’s why municipalities shorten the timing on yellow lights to generate more tickets (and make intersections more dangerous) and why 75% of Scottsdale’s city court cases are for traffic violations. Read about some of the photo enforcement scams here and here. You could also google “red light camera bribery” and read about the widespread bribery of politicians by the companies that operate these cameras. If it was really about safety, none of these shenanigans would be necessary.

Tucson Traffic Justice isn’t done though. According to a recent press release, its next task is “to redefine the Arizona Intersection Definition from the confusing and ill-defined “prolongation” of the curb lines definition, to the now standard federal definition to include the crosswalk area and the large white Stop Line on the approach.” Tucson Traffic Justice is a group actually concerned about safety. Tucson Traffic Justice is exposing “laws” that are in fact government scams whose sole aim is to separate drivers from their money, and that’s a cause any driver should support.