Tucson leaders to discuss photo enforcement | Community

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) – Tucson City Council will be discussing traffic safety initiatives in a study session, with photo enforcement as one of the topics.

Councilman Paul Cunningham tells News 4 Tucson there have been enough fatalities on the roads over the last few years to warrant further conversation on photo enforcement.

“Red light cameras were shot down by the voters about ten years ago, so the people have spoken,” Cunningham said. “But there is a lot of community interest to revisit it.”

City officials cite the increase in road fatalities as one of the reasons to give photo enforcement another look. According to a memorandum, there were 45 traffic-related fatalities each year from 2013-2015, the last three years photo enforcement was in place in Tucson.

News 4 Tucson checked the Tucson Police Department’s statistics, but their data only goes back to 2018. From 2022 through 2024, that number more than doubled to about 90 deaths a year.

Lisa Mitchell, a local resident, said she opposes reinstating photo enforcement.

“I’m not in favor of reinstating it,” Mitchell said. “I don’t believe the guidelines that the city council is arguing for would change my mind as a voter to say I would vote in favor of it this time now.”

Peter Langi, another local resident, said he was on the fence about the issue.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Langi said. “The city would really need it because of the number of accidents have gone up. But at the same time, it can be unfair because the City of Tucson voted it out.”

Photo enforcement isn’t a sure thing. Proposition 201 would have to be repealed first, which could only be done by voters.

Cunningham said that would have to be presented differently.

“It’s really important to decide how that program is managed,” Cunningham said. “If the program is managed to be a revenue source, then it’s not going to be popular. But if it’s managed to be a safety tool, then I think that option to bring back red-light cameras should be presented to the voters.”

Councilmembers will also be looking at a map showing where crashes happen, an expansion of the traffic safety reporting dashboard and a proposed annual reporting structure.

You can read more on this agenda item here.