A photo radar camera in Paradise Valley. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Arizona voters likely won’t be deciding this fall whether to ban the use of red light and photo radar cameras after state senators on Monday rejected a plan to send the matter to the November ballot.
The proposal from Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers would have asked voters to enshrine a prohibition on the cameras into the state constitution. But the Senate Committee on Transportation, Technology and Missing Children voted down her Senate Concurrent Resolution 1001.
Sen. Frank Carroll was the lone Republican on the committee who sided with Democrats to shoot down the resolution on a 3-4 vote, saying that the issue should be decided locally and not through a statewide ballot question.
Advocates have been trying to get the cameras banned for 16 years now, Rogers told the committee, claiming that the devices violate the U.S. Constitution and infringe on privacy rights. However, no court has ruled that traffic cameras are unconstitutional.