PHOENIX — The Phoenix City Council approved an automated enforcement program, which includes red light cameras, to curb pedestrian and red light fatalities in the city. The program proposal must be done by early Spring of 2025, or sooner.
Phoenix Vice Mayor Debra Stark, who brought the topic to the Oct. 22 City of Phoenix Policy Session, said Phoenix has seen an uptick in pedestrian deaths and red light fatalities. In 2023, there were 1,882 crashes involving pedestrians, which is 2.21% more than in 2022, according to Arizona Department of Transportation crash data.
"Certainly that's something we don't brag about," Stark said at a city council policy session. "It's very tragic."
Speeding is the number one complaint in her district, Stark said.
"I can't think of a neighborhood group that I go to that they don't talk about speeding," Stark said.
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Stark said there are many ways to approach roadway safety: with education and engineering being two options. However, the option the city council discussed and passed at their Tuesday policy session was an automated enforcement program.
Brandy Kelso, City of Phoenix streets director, said the city's previous automated enforcement program started in 2001. From 2001 to 2019, 12 intersections were equipped with red-light cameras throughout the city.
The Phoenix City Council voted not to renew a contract that would keep the city's red light cameras operating through 2020 in November of 2019.
The five-year average net revenue from traffic citations in the last five years was $28,000, which covered the vendor and staff costs associated with the project, Kelso said.
During a presentation to the city council, Kelso said 20 people died and there were 810 injuries reported from red-light running incidents.
There are multiple types of equipment that can be used for automated enforcement, Street Transportation member Briana Velez said, including:
- Red-light running cameras: Fixed cameras at intersections that are activated when a car runs a red light.
- Portable speed vehicles and towers: Can be placed adjacent to roads to monitor speed.
- Fixed mid-block speed: Permanent blocks mounted midblock that will detect a vehicle going above the set speed.
Councilwoman Laura Pastor, who represents District 4 in Phoenix, asked presenters during the meeting whether or not the enforcement methods would use facial recognition, and what data would be used to determine where the enforcement methods are placed — two issues she said were problems with the previous system.
"I want to make sure we are using the data correctly," Pastor said. "...They were in areas they really shouldn't have been and it became more, for some of us on the council, of a profiling."
Presenters said the enforcement methods will not use video, but rather photos, and those photos will be used to start the citation process.
One of the problems the city faces when it comes to enforcing traffic violations, such as red-light running, is a reduction in the city's police force, Stark said.
"As the city has grown, we've seen a reduction of enforcement on our roads," Stark said.
Councilwoman for District 1, Ann O'Brien, agreed and said she would prefer to have police officers on traffic enforcement, but understands that Phoenix does not have the manpower.
"We're down almost 600 officers in Phoenix," O'Brien said. "I would prefer it is officers out there because officers have the opportunity to educate and have those conversations, especially with those young teenagers or young drivers who are just moving a little too quickly."
Without the ability to utilize the police force, automated enforcement can be used as "another tool in our toolbox," O'Brien said.
Pastor said while she or other drivers may know not to speed where they know automated enforcement tools are located, they could easily speed once they leave the area.
One public commenter at the policy session proved that point — she said she doesn't speed in Paradise Valley because she knows there is automated enforcement in place.
"I think it's a great tool to have, but at the end of the day, I think it's enforcement that really, really changes behavior, so I hope we hire more police officers," Pastor said. "Get our... force to the level that we need to to get that enforcement."
Another public commenter, John McMullen, said he has spoken about his opposition to the red light camera program before at the Transportation Sub-committee meeting. He believes there are other ways to slow people down on Phoenix's roadways, such as speed bumps or traffic circles, rather than the "draconian" red light system.
"A simple implementation of a device like that will slow people down," McMullen said.
Another public commenter, Nicole Rodriguez, said she is a victim of traffic violence, and told council members that she has been hit as a pedestrian, as a cyclist and as a driver.
Rodriguez proposed using additional methods to curb speeding and red light running, such as flashing signs indicating how fast a driver is going, instead of only relying on automated enforcement, which she claims can disproportionately impact lower-income communities.
"When the focus is on using financial penalties as a means of traffic safety, inequities always arise, and there is absolutely no incentive to improve our streets with traffic calming measures," Rodriguez said. "We shouldn't have to wait for drivers to rack up tickets, to physically harm people, for our city leaders to build safe streets."
The program presented to city council members is net neutral, meaning any additional revenue generated could go back into traffic calming measures such as those brought up by public commenters.
While Stark said she knows enforcement is a "tough" issue to talk about, she said it is necessary, especially now that neighboring jurisdictions have red light cameras.
Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley all have red-light running cameras as well as a feature called "speed on green," which will take a photo when a vehicle goes above a certain speed limit at an intersection, according to information presented to the Phoenix City Council.
"I, for one, am tired of hearing about fatalities that could have been prevented if we slowed down or if we didn't run a red light," Stark said.
The anticipated start date of the automated enforcement program is the fall of 2025.
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