Do Arizonans really loathe speed cameras?

There are a half dozen legislative bills and two citizens' initiatives aimed at either banning or restricting photo enforcement on Arizona roadways.

Talk-radio hosts and bloggers can't get enough of the topic. And even Gov. Jan Brewer has said she constantly hears complaints about photo enforcement.

So do most Arizonans really loathe the cameras?

Maybe not.

A recent poll by Public Opinion Strategies showed that 63 percent of the Arizona voters surveyed believe the state Department of Public Safety should continue its statewide photo speed-enforcement program.

The telephone survey included 500 registered voters and was conducted Jan. 13-14.

One important note: The survey was paid for by Scottsdale-based American Traffic Solutions Inc., which makes red-light and speed-enforcement cameras - mostly for cities and counties.

Redflex, another Scottsdale company, is contracted to operate the cameras for DPS.

However, the poll did address photo-enforcement cameras on a city and county level: The survey showed 69 percent of those polled want the cities and counties using speed cameras to continue their programs. And 84 percent say their city police departments should continue using red-light cameras.

Jim Burton, who conducted the poll, said that the survey included a random sample stratified by county and demographically representative of state voters.

"We set quotas by county, gender and a quota on younger and older voters to make sure no age group was over or underrepresented," he said.

Source