Arizona Voters Approve Photo Radar Ban, but $250 Tempe Camera Tickets Stand

• Arizona voters passed Proposition 319, a ban on new photo enforcement systems, and the Associated Press called the race at 1:34 a.m. Wednesday with 59% of the vote.
• Phoenix and Tempe can keep their cameras for now but need local voter approval to continue, so a Tempe camera ticket still costs $250 with $252 due in total.
• License plate readers such as Flock are outside the measure, and a camera notice can still be paid or contested through the city court.

Your Camera Ticket Did Not Disappear on Election Night

Arizona voters passed Proposition 319 on Nov. 3, and once it takes effect it stops the state and its cities from installing or using new photo enforcement systems. Cameras already running in Phoenix and Tempe are grandfathered in and keep producing citations. In Tempe the fine is $250 and the total due is $252. As of Nov. 6, both city pages still tell drivers how to pay or contest a citation, so treat a notice in the mailbox as live.

The race call came at 1:34 a.m. Wednesday with the measure leading at 59%. A later count, with about 84% of votes tallied, put support at 61% and opposition just under 40%. Ballot measures in Arizona need a simple majority, 50% plus one at the least. State lawmakers referred Proposition 319 to the ballot earlier this year, and it drew some bipartisan support.

Tempe leaders brought photo enforcement back amid a police officer shortage, and Phoenix followed earlier this year. The Republican-controlled Legislature then sent eight statewide measures to voters, and photo radar proved unpopular with them.

What Proposition 319 Does and Does Not Change

No new photo enforcement systems can go up, whether state or local. A town without cameras cannot start a program. A community with photo radar must win a local vote to renew its contracts. The terms add a renewal vote every 10 years, and if voters reject a program, the city has 90 days to remove its cameras.

Proposition 319 covers speed and red-light cameras. Flock and other automated license plate readers fall outside it. Last year the Legislature turned down major new limits on those readers while conceding that some safeguards are needed. Some supporters of the ban voiced worry about how the collected data is stored and used, but the measure does not reach those systems.

Two dates are still open. The measure’s text, SCR 1004 in the Legislature’s records, gives no calendar date for the ban to take effect, and it ties the local votes only to the next general election after that. Tempe Mayor Corey Woods was asked whether support for the cameras would hold after 2028, and he answered, “I’m not sure at this point.”

What Happens to the Phoenix and Tempe Cameras

Tempe has cameras at 14 intersections and four mobile units that move around. The fixed cameras went live on May 7, 2025, after a 30-day warning period. Phoenix operates 17 speed-monitoring cameras, a program the Mayor and City Council approved in October 2024 under the city’s Vision Zero safety plan. Warning notices started Feb. 23, 2026, and citations for speeding over the posted limit began March 25, 2026. Phoenix moves its devices between corridors with high numbers of serious and fatal injuries, and extra cameras rotate weekly through 15 mph school zones in the school year. Verra Mobility operates them for the city.

Paradise Valley also runs cameras. Tucson has none. Its voters banned photo radar in 2015, and its council met this summer to discuss reinstating them after a rise in traffic fatalities. Proposition 319 makes that harder. Will Humble, who once directed the Arizona Department of Health Services and now heads the Arizona Public Health Association, warned that cities like Tucson could never add cameras, even at an intersection that turns deadly.

Woods backs the cameras and says they changed how he drives. “They’ve really changed my own driving habits,” Woods said. He described what a yellow light now means to him: “Hey, that yellow light means to pump the brake and slow down, not to try to, you know, floor the gas and get through by the skin of my teeth,” Woods said. He also cited results: “We’ve seen a reduction in fatal crashes and collisions by over 21%,” he said.

Phoenix Councilwoman Debra Stark pointed to early signs. “They are seeing, very preliminarily, studies are showing that people are starting to slow down. And so that gives me a great deal of hope.” Phoenix says its program is not meant to raise revenue and runs on cost recovery.

What a Camera Ticket Costs and How It Is Issued

A Tempe camera hit for speeding or for running a red light is a civil citation with a $250 fine. Do both at once and the city issues a second citation. Excessive speeds can bring criminal charges under A.R.S. 28-701.02. Starting Sept. 26, 2025, the total due on a photo enforcement violation is $252. Tempe lists defensive driving school for cited drivers who want to avoid points.

Each Tempe camera records two images, one of the intersection and one close-up of the plate. Tempe Police review the event before a complaint goes out, and the citation goes to the person police identify as the driver. A driver who is mid-intersection as the light changes escapes the ticket. The city cites only cars that enter after the red turns steady.

Phoenix notices come by mail from Phoenix Municipal Court. Phoenix Police review every recorded event, and driving under the posted limit draws no citation. The Phoenix page does not state a dollar fine, so read the amount on the mailed Arizona Traffic Ticket and Complaint. Proponents of the ban say officers show some leniency with drivers a little over the limit, while a camera tickets everyone past a fixed threshold, such as 11 mph over.

Other cities are moving the opposite way: Los Angeles speed cameras are live, with $50 to $500 fines starting in December.

The Argument That Won and the One That Lost

Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers referred the measure to the ballot and cast it as a matter of freedom and privacy. Rogers said, “And this is about Arizonans who intuitively want their freedom to navigate the roadways without having their picture taken against their will,” and added, “That’s wrong. It violates the Fourth Amendment.” She called the cameras a revenue tool. “The real bottom line here is that this has been a cash cow for cities and towns because a human being, law enforcement officer, does not serve the ticket,” she said. Rogers accused Paradise Valley of issuing 10 tickets for each resident every year and taking in “hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not over maybe a million dollars a year.” Those figures are her accusation.

Phoenix Councilwoman Anna Hernandez welcomed the result in a statement. “I am glad that the City of Phoenix will now have to get voter approval for the photo radar cameras that they’ve placed on our streets without resident input. Photo radar and intersection cameras are part of a larger effort by the state and law enforcement to monitor, track, and criminalize our residents and their daily activity. While I encourage residents to obey the speed limit and traffic laws, I do not support this unchecked power that we give the state. Prop 319 passing is good for Phoenix residents and restores our residents’ power to check state surveillance.”

The Goldwater Institute, which backed the ban, calls photo enforcement “taxation by citation” and says Phoenix handed out tens of thousands of tickets as its cameras started up. Scott Freeman, the institute’s senior counsel, asked what cities should check before they install a camera. “Is it something about the way the road is designed? The way the intersection is designed, the lighting, the signage that’s causing perhaps driver confusion?” Freeman said. “If it is, maybe we go fix that.”

Opponents argued that the cameras save lives. Humble said red-light cameras change behavior. “They change people’s behavior when they know those red light cameras are in place,” he said. “People less frequently run those red lights because they don’t want that expensive ticket.” He said cities that put cameras at dangerous intersections see up to a 50% reduction in serious or deadly T-bone collisions. “They prevent very violent, dangerous T-bone crashes that kill and maim people, period,” he said.

Humble warned about the future of any intersection that turns dangerous. “Even if you develop three years from now a really dangerous intersection that’s killing people, you can’t put a red light camera up there if this thing passes,” Humble said. “If this thing passes, people are gonna die in the future that could have been saved.” He also had a complaint about how some towns use the technology. “On McDonald, they put up a 25-mile-an-hour speed limit on a road that should be 40… every 300 meters, you got a speed trap,” Humble said. “That makes people mad, because it’s sneaky, and it doesn’t save lives.”

Michelle Donati leads government affairs at AAA Arizona. She cited Insurance Institute for Highway Safety research that credits red light cameras with a 21% drop in fatal red light crashes. “This isn’t about a theory, it is about proven safety outcomes,” Donati said. “If a city or town discovers they have a serious red light running problem, they may not be able to implement these life saving tools.” The 21% Donati cites is an IIHS figure for fatal red light crashes. The 21% Woods cites is Tempe’s own number for fatal crashes and collisions.

What to Do If a Camera Notice Arrives

Open it and read it. In Phoenix the notice comes by mail from Phoenix Municipal Court, and the city says it never contacts drivers about citations by email, text or phone call. A message that arrives that way is not from the city. Phoenix offers three ways to pay: online, by mail or in person, and the mailed Arizona Traffic Ticket and Complaint lists the rest.

In Tempe, check who was driving. A cited owner who was not behind the wheel must complete the Declaration of Non-Driver form, Option B on page 2 of the complaint, and return it within 30 days of the mailed date with a clear copy of a driver’s license or government-issued photo ID. The form can name the actual driver instead. For a stolen car, add the police report.

A driver who wants to contest can ask for a hearing. In Tempe, fill in the Option C coupon on page 2 of the complaint and return it to the court in the postage-paid envelope at least 7 days before the court date to avoid a delinquency notice. Tempe recommends asking by email. The court mails the hearing date, and the driver must appear then to testify and question the state’s evidence.

To pay, go online at tempe.gov/CourtPay, mail the Tempe Municipal Court at 140 East Fifth Street, Tempe, AZ 85281, or pay there in person, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., holidays excluded. Do not mail cash, and write the complaint number on the payment.

Drivers outside Phoenix and Tempe should watch their own city councils. A city with an active program must put the question to local voters, and the cameras stay on until then. The trend of speed cameras expanding in cities nationwide now has an Arizona exception.

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar

Sources

• City of Tempe: Photo Enforcement
• City of Phoenix: Photo Safety
• KJZZ: Voters pass Prop. 319, banning photo traffic enforcement in Arizona, AP says
• Arizona’s Family: Arizona voters approve ban on new photo traffic enforcement

Want more car content? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best automotive news and analysis on the internet.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow us on Microsoft Start.