Caught on camera: Arizona speeders

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- Next time you drive on U.S. Highway 93 on your way through Arizona, you might want to look for vans parked at the side of the road.

Especially if the open highway sometimes urges you to step on the gas.

That's because the Arizona Department of Public Safety is starting to use cameras -- mounted inside these vans -- to catch speeders. And U.S. 93 is an enforcement zone.

The vans will be stationed where statistics reveal a high ratio of speed-relation traffic collisions.

"Obviously for Mohave County, one that comes to mind is Highway 93 with all the traffic back and forth to Las Vegas from the valley," public safety Director Roger Vanderpool said in making an announcement Friday.

Lt. Ron DeLong, commander of the Kingman Department of Public Safety District, said Arizona Route 95, south of Bullhead City, is another area where the camera-equipped vans will be placed.

"The goal of the photo enforcement program is to reduce the number of collisions," DeLong said. "In addition to that, if we reduce the level of injuries that take place to folks involved in collisions that do occur and reduce fatalities, we're better off."

Program Manager Tom Woodward said warnings or citations will be mailed to the registered owners of vehicles caught speeding on camera.

Vanderpool said drivers will be warned that they're entering a zone where speed is being monitored by camera. He said motorists will pass two "photo enforcement zone" signs before arriving at a point where a camera-equipped van is stationed.

Woodward said offenders cited under the photo enforcement program enjoy the same right to challenge a citation in court as would anyone who would get a ticket from an officer.

While photo enforcement is used in municipalities, Arizona is the first state in the nation to implement such a program administered by a state level law enforcement agency, the agency said.

"It's DPS's intention to take the photo enforcement program statewide," Vanderpool said.