The American Spectator: Another Good Idea From Arizona

Anyone who knows me on the street knows I do a fair amount of traffic enforcement…if I’m not on a call for service, I am running radar a lot of times. But I gotta say I admire the people of AZ on this…

… This week, the Arizona Department of Safety notified its speeding camera contractor that the controversial program will be discontinued this summer.

In September of 2008, Arizona contracted with a company called Redflex to set up cameras on state highways and photograph vehicles that hit a speed at least 11 miles per hour faster than the posted limit. It was the first state in the nation to use cameras to ticket speeders on state highways….

When people found out they could ignore the tickets with no consequences, what would have been $127 million in revenue for the state shrank to only $36.8 million…

The program was so unpopular , though, that citizens were able to get a ballot initiative to repeal it this November. No, that doesn't really capture the depth of anger people felt at having their driving habits monitored statewide by Big Brother. Let me try again. The program was so unpopular that it inspired people to sabotage the cameras. One guy donned a monkey mask to repeatedly set the cameras off. Another smashed one to pieces. There were reports of lenses being covered with Post-It notes and Silly String.

Thanks to public resistance, the cameras will be removed on July 16, the day after the two-year contract with the operator expires. Opponents can claim a victory won with civil disobedience. And a monkey mask.