Loop 101 may go on camera in Scottsdale By Garin Groff, Tribune...

Loop 101 may go on camera in Scottsdale
By Garin Groff, Tribune

Photo radar will start targeting speeders on Loop 101 through Scottsdale under a test program the city is developing.

The city wants the system up in two or three months, provided that officials can demonstrate that the technology will work and make the freeway safer.

“We need to get people to slow down,” said Bruce Kalin, a police employee who oversees the city’s contract with a photo radar company, Redflex Traffic Systems. “There are too many people dying on the freeways.”

The Scottsdale portion of Loop 101 is a hotbed for speeding and deadly crashes. Eleven people have died on the highway since 2001.

The system would be unusual because the Arizona Department of Public Safety is in charge of patrolling state highways, including Loop 101. DPS has said it has had trouble covering Valley freeways because its staffing hasn’t kept pace with growth. Scottsdale police have directed some resources to the freeway, but the city doesn’t think that’s been enough.

Photo radar enables police to increase enforcement at virtually no cost. The city plans to use a private contractor for the service, as it does now on city streets. The city breaks even on that contract and expects to do the same with freeway enforcement, said Mary O’Connor, Scottsdale’s transportation general manager.

Under the current agreement, Redflex owns the equipment and is paid through revenue from tickets.

The city has had internal discussions about photo enforcement on the freeway for years, O’Connor said. But it has just launched an extensive study of it after talking with DPS and the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The agencies say they have questions about the system, but want to consider Scottsdale’s plan.

“We’re very open to anything that can help reduce the speed,” said officer Steve Volden, a DPS spokesman.

Scottsdale expects to have a formal plan this summer, which DPS and ADOT will need to approve. The photo radar would operate only in Scottsdale; ADOT said that no other Valley cities have requested the technology.

Among the issues Scottsdale must study is how to detect and photograph vehicles in multiple lanes. Officials said they don’t believe photo radar is used on any U.S. freeway, but the city’s contractor has used it successfully on Australian highways, Kalin said.

The city is researching where and how to install the equipment. It would probably mount cameras on poles on the sides of the freeway and use sensors imbedded in the road to detect cars, as it does with red-light cameras, Kalin said.

Also, the city must consider whether the equipment would distract drivers or create a hazard if drivers slam on the brakes. The city would initially run the program and probably issue tickets when drivers go 76 mph or more, following standard practice of citing drivers who go 11 mph or more over the posted speed limit.

Scottsdale doesn’t know how many drivers might get a tickets. The city has some data on speed, said traffic engineering director Paul Porell, but he hasn’t studied it closely because it’s clear that a majority of drivers speed. Police have told him a majority of drivers on Loop 101 in Scottsdale travel at least 75 mph.

“I’ve made personal observations that it can be uncomfortable driving at the posted speed,” Porell said.

The plan is getting a mixed response from north East Valley lawmakers. Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, said the plan should go before the Legislature because a state highway is involved. The Legislature probably doesn’t need a formal vote, but at least an explanation, he said.

But Rep. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, said she doesn’t see the need for lawmakers to approve photo radar.

“I think that would just hold things up,” Reagan said