Refreshers Beware
The city of Scottsdale with permission from the Arizona Department of Transportation has begun a 9-month program to slow down traffic on Loop 101. The “photo enforcement cameras” were put in place on Sunday and caught more then 1000 speeding drivers on the first day.
“Speeders can officially start worrying about being caught by the cameras on Feb. 21, when citations averaging $157 will be issued. The stationary cameras stretch long a 7.8-mile leg of Loop 101. Scottsdale is the first city in the nation to digitally patrol a state freeway.”
Well aren’t we lucky. We get to have fines before anyone else in the country. According to the article on the azcentral.com website there are going to be 6 cameras in between Scottsdale Road and 90th Street on the 101. Since the Refresh Phoenix meetings are off of Shea Blvd. everyone using the 101 to get there better keep track of how fast they are going for the next meeting. You’ll just get a warning if you speed on your way to the February meeting but coming March you better look out. The speed limit on the 101 is 65mph and the tickets will be issued to anyone driving 76mph or faster. A lot of the time traffic is so bad you couldn’t go 76mph if you wanted to but just in case, beware!
The next Refresh meeting is on February 7th. I hope to see everybody there and make sure to watch your speed.
My concern is not that speeders might get caught, but that the cameras may induce worse road behavior: sudden changes in speed.
I don’t mind speeders if that’s all they are doing. It’s the suddne lane changing and tailgating that are really dangerous. And I think there is a 10 MPH slack in the camera trigger, so one can still reasonably fast while avoiding the cameras.
Posted by James on Jan 25, 2006.
somebody should build a mashup to map the cameras on 101 with google maps.
Posted by joshua strebel on Feb 3, 2006.