Photo enforcement in Paradise Valley

Let's take a look at photo enforcement zones in Paradise Valley.

Driving through Paradise Valley, the state’s most affluent municipality just north of Phoenix and Scottsdale, you’ll notice a handful of cameras that will flash at you brightly if you’re going above the speed limit.

They’re called photo enforcement cameras; and if you see a flash, you can expect to receive a notice in the mail that you now owe $243 to $295. You could also opt to attend a defensive driving school for $130. (Or you could keep reading!)

You’ll learn two things today by reading this story.

1. You don’t technically have to pay¹ and

2. just how much effort does Paradise Valley put into these enforcement violations and where does the money go?

Let’s start with number two since that’s predominantly why I requested these records. Although, I only thought about them because I knew about number 1.

These are where the photo enforcement zones are in Paradise Valley:

• E. Lincoln Dr. and Palo Cristi Rd.-both E/B and W/B

• E. Lincoln Dr. and Tatum Blvd-All four directions

• E. Lincoln Dr. and Mockingbird Ln.-both E/B and W/B

• N. Tatum Blvd. and Desert Jewel Dr.-both N/B and S/B

• S. Tatum Blvd. and E. McDonald Dr.-both N/B and S/B

If you drive anywhere between 11-15 mph over the speed limit while passing one of the cameras, it will take a photo of the front and back of car as well as the person driving. The city or town (multiple cities in Arizona have these cameras, but I only focused on Paradise Valley for today) will then send a written notice to the address used to register the vehicle, from there you decide to pay the fine or attend defensive driving school (again, more on this later).

In Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022, there were more than 36,000 and 48,500 photo enforcement cases from five zones in Paradise Valley. The chart above breaks the numbers down by the type of violation –– was it speeding or a red light violation, and did the person pay the fine, go to school or nothing at all.

Here’s FY2023, which wrapped up June 30.

The number of violations appear to be climbing year over year, but the number of adjudicated cases is still roughly 33-36%. That means as much as 67% of violations (or two-thirds) ends up in nothing happening.

You can see the “adjudicated” charges (which are those that complete through the classes or fines) are a lot less than the total number for each year. Just over 16,000 cases were adjudicated in FY22 which is only about 33% of the total that year.

Regardless of the low number of adjudicated cases, it still resulted in roughly $7.5 million in fines/school charges over the past three fiscal years. That’s not nothing. But it should probably be closer to $20 million.

This document shows where all that money is going:

So why is the adjudicated number so much lower? Well that brings us back to point number one.

You don’t have to pay the fine, but only if it’s received by the mail and not legally served in person.

That’s the legal loophole a lot of Arizonans have learned.

State law says the municipality only has 90 days to serve you once there is a violation committed, but cities and towns –– Paradise Valley in particular –– relies on people paying up or taking a defensive driving class once they receive a mailed notice.

If you do opt to throw away the notice, the municipality could send a process server to your door (they usually won’t), but they still have to hand deliver it to you. Not a family member or roommate and as long as you don’t answer the door, they won’t find you at home. (Gated communities are even better.)

But also if you live in, let’s say, Gilbert or Glendale and get one of these violations from Paradise Valley, do you really think they are going to send someone that far from their town lines for a $200 fine? They will not.

A Paradise Valley spokesperson said they could not give me information on how often someone is sent to the home to collect the fines. They would not tell me if it even happened a single time in the past three years.

I only wish I knew this when my family got them in Tucson a decade ago. My dad paid the fines all the way from New Jersey.

Paradise Valley included these important facts about photo enforcement zones, as well.

1. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but like with a lot of laws, there’s a grey area.