The government of Jalisco has decided to take over operations of the hitherto privately-owned speeding fine system which tickets offenders via automated radar-equipped cameras.
Suspected misallocation of funds – estimated at 100 million pesos – by the contracted company, Autotraffic, is chief among the motives for the change. The decision comes in spite of the program’s purported successes.
Noted Governor Aristoteles Sandoval: “The photo-infraction system, together with other complementary actions such as the blood-alcohol measurement program Salvando Vidas, has reduced the number of accidents in the past five years by half, from 47,000 in 2012 to 23,000 in 2016.”
According to Sandoval, mortalities in the greater metropolitan area of Guadalajara have also been significantly reduced thanks to the speed camera network: 412 deaths were registered in 2016, a 40-percent decrease from the 663 fatalities registered in 2011. The first half of 2017 has seen 165 deaths, which, though lamentable, will represent a significant drop from last year if the death rate doesn’t increase in the second half of the year.
In light of the takeover, a state-controlled fiduciary commission will be created to collect and direct funds raised from the speeding fines toward improvements to traffic infrastructure and public transit.
Autotraffic, the firm at the center of the controversy, says that in the six years it has operated the program there have been no financial improprieties, and that the handing-off of duties is merely the result of the contract’s previously agreed upon termination.
By the state government’s estimation, it will be in full control of the automated traffic fine system within five months, during which the program will continue its normal operations.