Be Very Careful In Show Low, AZ

They must see the cameras as a way to make money from those of us who are "just passing through".

Thanks to the Redlight and Speed Camera POI's we were fine. For those who don't have GPSr's with the POI's and those from "out of town" who may be just "passin' through", good luck. You could get hit several times. Welcome to our little community, please come again. We want your traffic dollars.

The last time I went there was in 1998 on the 4th of July and it was not a pleasant experience. The Indian community was protesting and threatening violence back then and it became a tense and not very enjoyable experience.

Never went there again.

Follow the speed limits and you won't worry yourself silly....

It's not that simple. In a place like Show Low, with cameras all over the place, you are constantly paying inordinate attention to the speedometer and the traffic signal. You might just miss what you should be looking for; the person who runs out in front of your car, or the car taking the right-of-way by turning in front of you.

dobs108

farrissr wrote:

(Follow the speed limits and you won't worry yourself silly....)

People that post that lame line as a reply have nothing constructive really to say. Just to keep their message post count up so they can download the redlight/speed camera files for free. Oops, wait, they don't need them because they don't speed or forget to use their turn signals and they're perfect.

You could just stay out of those towns and cities too. That way you wouldn't get a ticket from a camera either.

Or....just stay home where it's safe. Tell other people to not speed and they will be ok. If you don't go anywhere you won't have to worry about anything.

I think you know what I meant by the line.. and with a population of around 11,000 it couldn't have taken long to drive through

In another post a while back I commented that Scottsdale Rd going south in Scottsdale AZ is also like this, Driving it is a pain in the neck. Good place to avoid.

You are dead nuts right on with how ridiculous it is to drive in the Show Low/Pinetop area. Don't forget about the nasty little speed camera at the bottom of the hill in Star Valley, See Ya,

Follow the speed limits and you won't worry yourself silly....

it's not necessarily that simple, you might not have enough distance to slow down, when I was stationed at Scott AFB in IL, one of the small towns nearby ran a scam not too unlike that, they had a 65 mile an hour sign then maybe 300 feet beyond they had a 30 mile an hour sign, needless to say they had quite a few police officers in a near by parking lot to catch people, worked for a while till someone checked the law about placement of speed signs.

Is staring at your speedometer in some of these places that use speed cameras to cite for 1mph over the limit more distracting then reading a text?

Take down the locations of the missing cameras so you could have sent them to POI factory and have them added. Even giving street intersecting names only would have been enough to plot them into the file you downloaded and used. After all, having a complete file is the aim of this site, and I believe what most members look forward to having.

That is actually a very astute observation.

Hummm....food for thought.

Thanks!

I have never heard of anyone getting a speeding ticket for one mile over the speed limit...If it has happened it would have to be extremely rare I would have to see some kind of proof that it happened.

Well, if the real speed limit is not the posted speed limit, what is it? Imagine right now you are driving through Show Low, staring at your speedometer! Do you drive 5 over, 7 over, or what? If you guess wrong there are at least 5 cameras on the main drag and you could get a summons on every one of them!

dobs108

Why not drive the posted speed limit until you are out of town if you are concerned and know there are cameras?

Sometimes it is not so easy. I know some stretches of US 20 through the Berkshires in Massachusetts where you can the speed limit changes three times in less than a mile in ranges from 30 to 55. I can certainly see one of these podunk communities changing the speed limit +/- 10MPH every block in order to trip people up

Personally, I would write a letter to the community's Chamber of Commerce and tell them you have no plans TO EVER return or do any business there and you will tell everyone you know to do the same. Many years ago there was a community in Westchester County, NY that decided to get aggressive with traffic enforcement in the village center. Nailing people for 27MPH in a 25MPH zone. Parking tickets the moment a meter expired, etc. Basically making it a big risk to bring your vehicle there. Quite a few people who were ticketed wrote letters to the Chamber of Commerce telling them in no uncertain terms they would never return to the village or spend any money there until the village lightened up on enforcement. Low and behold, the area businesses took a financial hit as word spread about how bad the place was. The businesses complained to the Mayor and eventually the police backed off on the extreme enforcement. It seems you can make money off of the fines once but you usually do not get repeat customers and as word spreads, no customers. In the meantime, businesses who rely on repeat customers lose them as well.

I also live in AZ. I have driven to Pinetop and other areas around there and it is terrible. I normally drive the speed limit but there are tons of areas in AZ that go from 75mph to 45mph in a matter of 300 feet. If you're not looking for the speed limit signs, you could miss one and end up with a ticket. It's not as easy as "Just maintain the speed limit".

I guess there is no real answer other than be careful and try to obey the laws the best you can and know how. We all know that there are places where they are tougher on upholding the laws and we just have to deal with them. We could all talk this to death and never resolve anything. The original post was an information post and I guess we should stick to it including myself..

I wondered what ever happended to the cameras they removed around Phoenix!
Now we know who bought them.

I have notice that AZ is the only state that has speed cameras!!! . Cause you shure here alot about them.
Calif, Oregon, Washington or any of the other states that have them you just don't seem to here sniffling or watch out don't drive thru their states...Just an Observation and it keeps me current on posts

I will be doing some cross country driving this summer and I will try to avoid all communities that use speed and red light cameras as a form of revenue generation. Once the local population figures this out they will do something to get tourist traffic back into their community.

Selma Tx will get you for 2 miles over the posted limit on the Freeway.

Stark & Waldo on rt 301 in Florida has speed limits that range from 65 to 30 in a very shrt distance. One section it goes to 15 mph. And if the school signis lit it goes to 12mph. This is a main highway!
The sign will go from 65 to 55 to 45 to 35 in less than a mile.
These two towns make most of their money on this stretch of road.
AAA has large signs on both sides of these towns warning drivers about them.
God help you if you out of stat plates on your car.
AAA will rout you around these towns if you get a trip ticket from them.

I am one who says do not run red lights and obey the speed limit, but I also agree thyat enough is enough. I hate it when I get a red light camera warning. My alert system kicks in, I look behind me to see who is following in case it goes yellow and my reflex hits the brake. If there was a fair time for yellow and a fair time for speed we would aall be safer. I just hate those that speed up to go through yellow/red lights. Dangerous...

I try to be very aware of the car behind me. If I find that it is following too close, I first try turning on my hazard lights to alert the driver behind me. Most of the time, that driver is on their cell phone and has lost awareness of how close they are to me. If the car following too close does not recognize the hazard lights and then back off, I change lanes if I can, or literally pull off the road for a moment to let the "following too close" driver get right behind someone else (they usually do).

When there is no one following me too closely, I do not have to worry as much about being hit in the rear as I stop for red lights or slow down for an abrupt change in the posted speed limit.

These are great little communities to visit in the hot summer months. The speed limit changes are nothing new in small rural communities in AZ. The addition of so many cameras in a row just makes the chances of getting caught multiple times for the same infraction that much more likely. Unfortunately speed traps will exist always. Whether they are enforced by an officer or a camera, we all have to deal with them. Situation awareness is a must. Drive safe.

I used to live up there (Pinetop) or at least my parents did. I was going thru school at Brophy in Phoenix (boarding). I was up there last year and it is barely recognizable from what I remember.

I suspect that the revenues from the cameras (locals get used to where they are) is used to help fund the area. However, there have been quite a few accidents on that road. Most of the bad accidents are due to alcohol - something the speed cameras won't do much about.