Arizona officials: Speed photos save lives

PHOENIX, May 15 (UPI) -- Arizona officials say they are pleased with the impact of highway photo-enforcement cameras even though more than half the pictures are unusable.

The presence of cameras has cut back traffic fatalities dramatically, the officials said in a report.

Motorists activated highway cameras that were set up to nab speeders more than 471,000 times from December through February. That's more than 5,200 times a day.

But the Arizona Republic says its analysis of three months of records indicates the Department of Public Safety and Redflex Traffic Systems threw out more than 65 percent of the photos captured.

Top causes for rejection include sun glare, dirty windshields and traffic congestion. DPS officers have to match the photo of the speeder with one on a driver's license in order to issue a ticket.

Lt. Jeff King, a DPS spokesman, says he doubts Redflex will reach its goal of issuing tickets 80 percent of the time. He said there is room for improvement but the state is pleased with the cameras' impact on public safety.

More than 80,000 drivers have paid fines and Arizona has collected nearly $12 million under the program.