People in Arizona are very confused when they get a City of Mesa Photo ticket in the mail primarily because the cities installed the cameras and did now explain how they work.
The actual Arizona Law 28-645A3A states “vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal alone shall stop before entering the intersection and shall remain standing until an indication to proceed is shown.” BUT… where is the entrance to the intersection?
If you are one of the millions of Americans watching one of the three NFL games this week, everyone knows where the line is to score, the endzone.
But where is the line at the intersection that your car crosses that triggers the camera?
In Arizona, the point of violation is defined as the “Prolongation” of the curb line. Simply stated, this is a line from the curb face on one
side of the street to the curb face on the opposite side of the street.
Below is a Google Maps picture of the intersection at Power and Main Street where you can see the painted dashed line that is the “Prolongation” of the curb line.
If your car crosses that line when the light is red you get an expensive traffic ticket.
This is a street view of the line that you cross on a red light that issues you a ticket at the Power and Main Street Intersection in Mesa AZ.
This is a street view of the line that you cross on a red light that issues you a ticket at the Power and Main Street Intersection in Mesa AZ.
Here is an actual picture from a photo ticket that a student gave to us. You can clearly see the Honda crossing the dashed white line (Prolongation ) with a solid red light in the picture. If you think they are stopped before the line, the text at the top of the picture identifies that are traveling at 25 miles per hour.
The other thing you need to know is that if the light is yellow or green, it is a regular speeding camera triggered to issue you a speeding ticket if you are traveling 11 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.