By Staff Reporter |
The city of Avondale will soon be getting rid of its speeding cameras.
Avondale City Council voted 5-2 to end its Speed Safety Camera Program during its regular session on Monday. Councilmembers Max White and Gloria Solorio voted against the program’s termination.
The goal of the cameras per Avondale police was to reduce the number of speeding vehicles and encourage “healthy” driving behavior.
The majority of the council voted to end the program due to a variety of challenges presented: a significant number of staff time required for citation review and citizen inquiry responses, vandalism to cameras, and a high number of violations rejected due to technical difficulties like poor image quality and glare.
The city evaluated three locations from August 2024 through this July to review the effectiveness of the program. A total of 12,100 citations were issued based on evidence from these cameras across the three locations: nearly 2,200 to residents, and nearly 10,000 non-residents.
Per the evaluation, the speed cameras didn’t deter speeding. The average speed of those speeding in the locations remained the same before, during, and after camera deployment.
The program’s total anticipated cost for the 2026 fiscal year was over $560,000: about $210,000 for the camera devices and associated expenses, and about $352,000 for the four full-time employees to run the program. That cost doesn’t factor the costs incurred with a high number of captures, which necessitated the workload to be offset to other community service officers.
Court collections were greater than program costs, totaling over $763,600, a net of about $200,000.
Avondale police said their speed safety strategy priorities consist of filling traffic officer vacancies, establishing more speed trailers and covert boxes, improving targeted enforcement, and increasing lidar and radar units for patrol officers.
Going forward, Avondale police said they were launching a speed safety campaign through social media and message boards, continuing its West Valley Speed Enforcement Task Force, partnering with engineering on roadway design to decrease speeds, and relying on current traffic and flock camera systems.
The Speed Safety Camera Program began in May 2022. It concludes officially in June of next year, and will cost the city about $100,000.
Councilmember Max White had a different interpretation of the data.
White argued during Monday’s meeting that the program did have an impact on driving behaviors, though minimal. Mainly, White expressed concern the termination of the contract would impact the city’s credit rating.
White, a National League of Cities (NLC) Transportation & Infrastructure Services board member, indicated the termination would jeopardize recent grant funding from the federal government, the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant.
“We’ve gone out for a bond specifically indicating we’re bonding for public safety and now we’re going to say, ‘We’re going to renege on this one contract.’ That doesn’t feel good for me,” said White. “To save $107,000 — I know you guys put safety first, I know we’re going to do more things, but to whom much is given much is required. I think we need to walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Councilmember Gloria Solorio agreed and expressed concerns that the elimination of the cameras would jeopardize the grant since it requires “countermeasures.”
City Manager Ron Corbin said the program’s termination wouldn’t jeopardize the grant funding.
Councilmember White responded that the grant received was a research grant, and that the speed camera program data was a component of that research used in application for the grant.
“This is research data that we should be collecting through the contract period. There’s a contract period we’re cutting short, and this is part of the research that was just used, for clarification,” said White.
Councilmember Jeannette Garcia said that the data confirmed her suspicions for her longstanding dislike of the cameras.
Mayor Mike Pineda said that he supported speed cameras initially, but is supportive of other tools desired by police to make roadways safe.
“It really stems from safety: how do we make a dent in the overall safety of our roads?” said Pineda. “I see no problem with removing the speed cameras and allowing the police department […] to provide and add these additional resources including the campaigns as a means to reducing and hopefully eliminating speed as a factor in this community.”
Councilmember Tina Conde said it would be “more beneficial” to allow the police department to take over speeding enforcement through their preferred tools.
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