Paradise Valley Caught In $193k Ticket Fraud

From TheNewspaper.com:

A group campaigning to eliminate photo enforcement in Arizona has forced Paradise Valley to admit that it has been shortchanging drivers. A volunteer with the group Camerafraud.com discovered the city used illegally short yellows at the intersection of Tatum Boulevard and McDonald Drive. The motorist was mailed a red light camera ticket for allegedly entering the intersection just 0.2 seconds after the light had turned red.

“I was nailed with a ticket at an intersection that left me very perplexed because I didn’t think I was going to get a ticket,” David K. wrote on June 16. “I thought I was close enough to the intersection to pass the limit line before the light turned red. Well, I thought wrong because the duration for the yellow light on a 40 MPH speed limit road was only three seconds…”

…Altogether, 1063 motorists issued red light camera tickets between May 6 and June 16 will receive refunds if paid or have their citations canceled. Most have not paid. This represents a loss of $193,466 in potential revenue to the city.

It’s important to note that less than a day after the whistleblower posted his video online and contacted the city, Paradise Valley quietly corrected the yellow light timing to the proper threshold. A video made by the driver before-and-after was the only proof of the misdeed, so you can be assured that without it the issue would have been quietly swept under the rug.

Redflex and Paradise Valley: Where perpetrating fraud is always about the money.