Authorities say that they don't have enough police to keep the roads safe from those who disregard traffic rules

by Stephen Rivers

Phoenix plans to spend $12 million on a new traffic enforcement camera system aimed at boosting road safety and easing pressure on its stretched police force. The initiative marks the return of automated enforcement to city streets six years after a similar program was shut down.

While officials say it’s a safety measure, not everyone’s convinced. Some critics argue it’s less about protecting drivers and more about generating revenue.

Notably, these cameras do more than just ticket red light runners. They’ll also catch speeders provided the person is going 11 mph or more over the limit. Evidently, Phoenix has just 28 police officers assigned to patrol the streets, and they have over 5,000 miles of road to cover. These new cameras should take some of the burden off the police.

For now, it’s unclear where the cameras will go up, but drivers should see them before the end of the year or early 2026 at the latest, according to AZFamily. Phoenix officials say they’ll use current data about which intersections are the most dangerous to decide on camera placement. When they become operational, drivers will get warnings only for the first 30 days. After that, real tickets will start going out.

This sort of strategy shouldn’t be too surprising. This year alone, several cities in the U.S.A. have started similar programs. In many cases, they rake in lots of funds for the municipality and the speed camera companies. Nearby Tempe recently started its own camera enforcement system and issued over 2,200 citations in the first month.

Those citations brought in a cool $900,000 in revenue. Of those, only around half goes to the city, while the rest goes to the camera company. Nevertheless, it explains why Phoenix might be willing to spend $12 million in taxpayer funds to catch offenders: the cameras will effectively pay for themselves sooner or later, and then start turning a profit.

Like we said in the intro, Phoenix has already tried this practice, but back in 2020, the city council voted to stop using red light cameras. Obviously, it had a change of heart and hopes to make the program a success in its second go-around. 

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