Red Light Camera News Intersection cameras are put on notice. Strathcona County Alberta, Canada.
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Intersection cameras are put on notice. Strathcona County Alberta, Canada.
By Meaghan Baxter News Staff
Strathcona County Ward 3 Councillor Brian Botterill brought forward a notice of motion at the Aug. 30 council meeting regarding implementing significant changes to traffic safety.
The issue will be brought back for debate at council's next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13.
Botterill addressed council regarding several key areas of Strathcona County's traffic safety regulations that he feels are in need of change. These include getting rid of intersection traffic cameras, the addition of five new enforcement service officers, and to request the county's Enforcement Services and Traffic Engineering collaborate to maximize intersection safety. The goal is to minimize red light infractions.
"More and more cities and states are starting to turn off their automated traffic devices, just based on statistics that driving habits aren't changing due to radar or intersection safety cameras," Botterill said.
He added residents don't support automated traffic devices because getting a ticket in the mail two weeks after the infraction does not give them a chance to correct their driving habits. Being pulled over by an officer corrects the mistake immediately, rather than potentially allowing drivers to unknowingly repeat the same infraction.
"Photo radar has never caught a drunk driver, photo radar has never caught a stolen car, photo radar has never caught someone texting and driving. Five more bylaw officers can increase safety in all of those areas, as well as slow people down," the councillor said.
In addition to increased safety, more enforcement officers would also save the county a significant amount of money from the municipal budget, Botterill explained.
The county's photo enforcement contract costs more than $890,000 last year, while hiring five more enforcement services officers would cost approximately $590,000.
The potential collaboration of Enforcement Services and Traffic Engineering presents the option of lengthening amber-light times to minimize collisions and unintentional red-light infractions, Botterill explained.
"A lot of the time, when you see a person getting a ticket at .01 seconds into a red or .02 seconds, they're not running a red light on purpose, especially with our winters, they might be sliding through a red light," Botterill said.
In two weeks, when council meets again, Botterill plans to present a variety of statistics from cities that have eliminated automated traffic devices, their reasons for doing so, the resulting impacts, and why certain types of red light cameras are not effective.
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