http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/analysis-not-even-on-radar-136054393.html

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Analysis not even on radar

 By: Editorial

 Posted: 12/22/2011 1:00 AM | 
 

 (DALE CUMMINGS)

It seems so typical of the city and of the Winnipeg Police Service to be planning to "invest" in a new photo radar program without knowing what it would cost or conclusive evidence that the existing program has improved road safety.

It must be recalled the police department signed the original contract with ACS that returned significantly less profit to the city than was expected. Now a request to renew the ACS contract and replace current equipment with digital cameras has been sent to the province, but no one knows how that will affect the program's revenues.

Inquiries to the city and the WPS on the business plan -- approximately how much a new contract with digital equipment would cost and how much could be saved by eliminating the film processing now necessary -- elicited responses that such an estimate was not available.

Nonetheless, the WPS -- convinced as it is photo radar has cut accidents and improved safety -- and the city have asked the province to change the program's enabling legislation so that digital photographs can be employed.

Photo radar has had its share of controversies, but also has curried wide support among Winnipeggers. Many were outraged by the use of mobile photo radar in construction zones -- Bishop Grandin's reconstruction, most notably -- where people were fined for driving over the speed limit when no construction workers were on site. The legislation expressly allowed photo radar to be in effect when workers were present. The province cancelled tickets of those who had not paid before a court challenge was launched, but refused to refund those motorists who had paid their tickets.

The city and the police service insist photo radar has done its job, has convinced drivers to slow down, pointing to studies that indicate fewer collisions and falling revenues at those intersections where red light cameras are installed to catch those who blow through the red light or drive over the speed limit.

An independent study by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation produced earlier this year could not conclude the same about the effect of mobile radar because the data were limited.

People are slowing down and fewer are getting ticketed at intersections with cameras. Neither the city nor the police, however, can say whether photo radar has made Winnipeg roads safer. That's because few of the cameras are set up at the city's top 50 intersections for collisions, as tracked by Manitoba Public Insurance between 2003 (the year photo radar tickets began to be issued) and 2009. Forty-eight of the intersections have seen collisions rise, the vast majority have risen steeply. Only two intersections notched fewer collisions in 2009, but even those drops could not be construed as part of a trend.

Only 11 of the 50 intersections have red light cameras installed. This illustrates the real disconnect between the promises that photo radar was introduced to improve safety, not as a cash cow. A real safety program would match dangerous intersections or stretches of road with the cameras and enforcement. There are 34 intersections where cameras can be installed today, a third are matched to collision-prone corners.

Further, red-light cameras have increased the number of rear-end collisions at those corners, as motorists react suddenly to prevent entering on a yellow or red, causing a chain reaction with following vehicles. It has not been an insignificant unintended consequence, the TIRF study showed.

Transportation Minister Steve Ashton has been asked to amend the law that enables photo radar in the city. Mr. Ashton told Manitobans that such programs in municipalities would have to be tied to safety, not to generate cash. He did a poor job of framing legislation to fit the bill the first time around. If photo radar's costs and "benefits" are to continue, he should amend the law sufficiently to impose the duty to install the technology where it could do the most to cut collisions -- at intersections where the data prove the problem lies.
 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 22, 2011 A12

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