red lights; violations;
procedures
(now: traffic lights; violations; procedures)
DPA |
Committee on Judiciary |
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dpa S/e |
Committee on Transportation |
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dpa |
Caucus and COW |
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x |
As Transmitted to the Governor |
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House Bill 2277 retains the fines for red light, stop sign and left turn violations at current statutory levels and requires that a person who makes one of these violations attend Traffic Survival School if the person is ineligible to attend Defensive Driving School. In addition, the bill charges the Governor’s Highway Safety Team to issue a report on methods to reduce red light violations.
Currently, the cities of Mesa, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Tempe and Chandler employ photo enforcement technologies to cite red light offenders. Local authorities that enforce traffic laws by utilizing photo enforcement or monitoring systems contract with a private vendor for a fee based on each violation adjudicated as guilty or responsible. The vendor obtains the record of the registered vehicle owner from the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) and issues the citation to the registered owner of the vehicle via first class mail. The person charged with the violation is to either return the citation to the court along with payment of the fine or appear in court to deny the charges and request a trial or hearing.
Based on information from Mesa’s Police Department, photo citations are mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle regardless of whether the vehicle is a company vehicle, from an Arizona county other than Maricopa or from another state. If the person is an Arizona resident and does not respond to the mailed citation, Mesa’s contract process server utilizes a process server located in the vehicle owner’s county or city to serve the citation. In the case of company vehicles, Mesa states the citation is mailed to the registered (company) owner who forwards the citation to the employee driving the vehicle at the time the violation occurred. If the vehicle is registered in another state, the citation is mailed to the registered owner in that state. Mesa Police Department states there is a high compliance rate on out-of-state citations.
Laws 1998, Chapter 243 established a civil penalty of up to $500 and suspension of driving privileges for up to 90 days for violations involving traffic control signals, left turns, stop signs and yield signs that result in serious physical injury. For violations resulting in death or serious physical injury, current statute also prescribes a civil penalty of up to $1000 and suspension of driving privileges for up to 180 days.
Currently, there are 16 states and the District of Columbia that have policies regarding the use of traffic cameras.