Speed Camera News Manitoba NDP Continue To Delay Decision On Winnipeg’s Photo Enforcement Cash Cow
Manitoba NDP Continue To Delay Decision On Winnipeg’s Photo Enforcement Cash Cow
by Larry on Friday, December 23rd, 2011 |
Time For Transportation Minister Steve Ashton To Man Up And Stand Up To Mayor Katz And Chief McCashcow
As Mayor Katz and Winnipeg’s Police Chief McCaskill stand holding empty money bags and waiting with baited breath for an answer on the fate of their beloved ATM system aka Photo Enforcement, the NDP Transport Minister Steve Ashton http://www.gov.mb.ca/minister/mintgs.html continues to play coy on his decision of whether or not to change the rules governing photo radar and red light scameras and allow them to convert to digital format from wet film.
According to the Winnipeg Police Service, the request is about four years old now and they are nervous about not being able to rip off the public further after 2012. Minister Ashton acknowledges the request and was quoted as saying, “I know they’ve raised concerns about its continued ability to operate after 2012,it’s under consideration. We’ll deal with it. But quite frankly, the bigger concern for certainly myself as minister and certainly for us as a province has been since we brought it in, is it working? Are any further enhancements needed to ensure it achieves its results?”
Which leaves this writer to state, “WTF Steve? Are you serious? Have you been living under a stone for at least the last four years when more then sufficient evidence has been brought forth to prove it is not improving safety and that the City of Winnipeg has been abusing the system in an attempt to make as much revenue as possible, even to the extent of breaking the law!!!! Hello…..is this thing on? You there Steve?”
Quite frankly it is time for Premier Selinger http://www.gov.mb.ca/minister/premier/index.html and his Manitoba NDP http://todaysndp.ca/ party to start showing leadership which is what this province so desperately needs. You have a new majority government, so use it. The McFadyen PC party completely dropped the ball on this issue due to associations with Katz and other councillors and coupled with a complete lack of vision period, predictably lost the election.
So since you appear to have developed memory problems Mr. Steve Ashton, I have compiled a list of 10 reasons why you should get to work after the Christmas break and either regulate the program heavily to avoid abuses and having the program used as an ATM for the City, or better yet bring the hammer down on Katz and withdraw legislation allowing the program to exist period!
1. The program was whisked in quickly and under scrutiny after the fact due to WPS handling of the contract bidding process, especially all eyes were critical of Sgt. John Butcher who headed up the team in charge of implementing the program. The subsequent Audit in 2006 http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2006/winnipegaudit.pdf found he was negligent in many areas, not letting the right hand know what the left hand was doing essentially and as a result the camera company ACS won a 5 year 30 million dollar contract with no competitors. Low and Behold, after implementation Butcher takes early retirement and works for a lobby firm funded by ACS http://www.stopredlightrunning.com/pdfs/sfv3.No10.pdf and is now head of sales in Canada for ACS http://www.powerprofiles.com/people/1/00005156048204/JOHN+BUTCHER-NATIONAL+DIRECTOR-ACS+PUBLIC+SECTOR+SOLUTIONS+INC-Edmonton-AB-%28780%29+421-8840.
2 The City of Winnipeg has failed to compile accurate statistics surrounding the programs so called safety improvements and has been late in filing it’s report with the Province every year http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/05/28/city-still-hasnt-released-photoradar-report. Even after being reprimanded by the City’s Auditor in 2006, the City still refuses to use MPI’S statistics, even though they request them from the corporation because these true statistics show an increase in especially rear end collisions. The WPS refuses to recognize these collision because they look at them as outside of the intersection. In fact Mr. Ashton back May 8, 2002 at the THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON LAW AMENDMENTS http://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/hansard/3rd-37th/la_03/la_03.html in which you were present for the presentation given by John Butcher and you questioned him about whether this was a supplement to traditional enforcement and your concern about the small percentage of society who will break the law due to perception on not being caught and on how it appeared that traditional enforcement already seems to have made an impact due to fewer tickets being given out over the previous 10 years. Then the following conversation occurred which showed at this time that the Winnipeg Police Service did not have evidence to prove the need for photo enforcement;
Mr. Gerald Hawranik (Lac du Bonnet): This current Bill 3 allows the use of photo radar in school zones, playground zones, construction areas, as well as intersections with traffic lights. Do you have statistics to show the incidence of accidents at those areas, the extent of property damage that occurs in those areas, and, of course, the extent of personal injuries that occur in those areas, as compared to high speed zones within the city? And if so, please inform us.
Mr. Butcher: No, sir, I did not bring those statistics with me. However, I can suggest that in areas where people are most vulnerable, even one collision, one death is too many. If workers on the side of the road and children going to school are not the most vulnerable, I am not sure who is. I think the public has a reasonable expectation that the Police Service is doing everything it can to protect the most vulnerable people here, and that is the opportunity we are taking in respect of this bill.
Mr. Hawranik: I take it that you do have those statistics, and if you do, could you make them available to us?
Mr. Butcher: I am not sure if I do have those statistics, but I can attempt to retrieve them and present them, or re-present, them at the committee.
3. The City of Winnipeg lobbied the government to increase traffic fines for speeding and disobeying a traffic control device after being caught in a deficit situation in the second year of the program due to a decline in tickets and that they had to pay ACS over 5 million dollars a year due to the flat rate contract and that the projections by ACS were grossly over stated.
4. The program targets people in a predatory fashion using locations that are poorly signed and on roadways that give the perception that the motorist is travelling on a roadway which is a different speed zone. Due to low speed tolerances, well under what a police officer would stop someone and ticket for, the majority of drivers caught are doing slightly over what they thought the speed zone was. ie Someone travelling on a 4 lane divided roadway that appears to be a 60 zone and is actually an un signed 50 zone and with a threshold of just 12 kph over is caught going 63-65 kph or just over what they thought was the limit. The programs own statistics show that high speeds of 25kph and over only make up less then 1% of all tickets.
5. The City of Winnipeg has been caught removing warning signs on all medians leading up to red light camera intersections. In a post written for Wise Up Winnipeg http://photos.wiseupwinnipeg.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=691579&mt=Photo&ci=42240 it shows the comparison from Google Street View of when there was dual signage to now that there is only one sign along the right curb on multi lane roadways. Why would the City do this when they so blatantly bragged on their website http://wiseupwinnipeg.com/2011/04/04/were-signs-of-safety-putting-winnipegs-photo-enforcement-out-of-business/ about what a great job these signs were doing in making drivers slow down?
6. The Winnipeg Police Service and ACS were caught red handed issuing 60,000 illegal tickets in unmanned construction zones with confusing signage. Then your government and Mayor Katz refused to issue refunds http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Chomiak-kills--any-hope-thousands-of-drivers-will-get-a-refund-44910177.html and then your government, literally overnight changes the rules for them?
7. Even after changing the rules ACS continues to set up their mobile photo enforcement vehicles in a predatory manner in construction zones. As witnessed in this video, the unit is set up literally about 100 yards from the END OF THE CONSTRUCTION ZONE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtACaRylH-I , with the camera angled so as not to display the speed increase sign posted only a few yards from where the vehicle enters the beam, catching unaware motorists who are safely accelerating right before the speed change and end of construction zone signs. The mobile unit is also parked illegally in a no parking zone. Why was the unit not set up in the construction zone further back where there were workers. Because they would generate no tickets. MPI stats and WCB both show that less then 1% of all collisions occur in these zones and the majority that do are related to construction vehicles and personal vehicles of the workers. WCB reports in all the province only 1-2 injuries a year happen in these zones and not from collisions.
8. The City of Winnipeg and your Government still refuse to listen to or consider evidence that properly timed amber lights allow motorists to stop safely or give them time to clear the intersection safely. When Georgia congressman Barry Loudermilk http://www.barryloudermilk.com/ was brought to the city in March of 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a14dQaXK8oM&feature=related to do a presentation of how the state of Georgia was able to increase safety at red light camera intersections by a minimum of 76% and saw an instant reduction in offences by 80%, your government, Mayor Katz, Chief McCaskill and ACS all failed to attend or even send a representative even though an invitation was extended well in advance. The City was given the opportunity to present the safety facts of the program and although one would think that if such a case was to be made they would have relished the chance to present it, but instead decided not to show up. The City continues to have a 4 second amber for all intersections regardless of size and although Mayor Katz called a study of the Georgia example right before the municipal election in October of 2010 to avoid the issue then, a report was not tabled till spring of 2011 and at that time it was found they did not even study the example or even contact the Georgia DOT! Instead they had their paid engineer tell us that the 4 seconds was adequate. This has been the approach all along, providing adequate instead of enhanced safety!
9.The City of Winnipeg continues to hide behind the FIPPA act http://blogs.canoe.ca/raisinghell/2011/01/04/ to prevent them from having to release damaging evidence to Wise Up Winnipeg. In particular the contract with ACS and the data surrounding the entry into the red light at camera intersections. Dues to inadequate amber times, the majority of people getting tickets are being caught in the transition of the red within the first 3-4 tenths of a second of the change. This is not visible by the human eye and is in no way a contributor to collisions. It is estimated that if an extra second was added to a properly timed amber then all of these “offenders” would be eliminated as is proven by research http://wiseupwinnipeg.com/2011/04/18/red-light-cameras-increase-collisions-injuries-and-insurance-rates/ and practical application in other jurisdictions. Good news for safety….bad news for revenue. If they City has nothing to hide, then why not just release the data?
10 Although I could cite many more examples I will stop at this one. City councillor speaks out about dumping contract with ACS in 2012!!! Recently Councilor Scott Fielding http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/12/13/ditch-photo-radar-says-city-councillor has been vocal about scrapping the program at the end of the contract. It would seem that maybe some politicians do have a conscience after all. The City advises they can’t get out of it now as they will be sued….so what, perhaps they could use the extra millions generated from their illegal 60,000 tickets in constructions zones to either pay out or take it to court. Would they still be sued if your government changed the legislation to no longer allow the program? Now there is further abuse allegations as well about the manner of ticketing at Grant and Nathaniel?
Finally Steve……do you think that maybe the City’s lack of response to your enquiry about whether increased signage would reduce rear end collisions might also be a clue????? Really, it’s time for you to Man Up and take some leadership on this issue and either force the City to do the following or cancel the program;
•Better signage of speed limits through out the City and especially in enforcement areas, including dual signage on divided roadways.
•Properly time the amber’s for the size of each intersection and then add an extra second at any that have a camera.
•Visibly decal the mobile radar units so they can be seen in advance, including reflective decals, and a portable speed limit sign to be set up as well. Remember the goal is to get people to slow down, not drive by take a picture and send an invoice to the owner in the mail two weeks later.
•Allow enforcement in the establish school grounds, play grounds and construction zones only when their is school in session or right before of after. Only allow set up within close proximity of the play area as opposed to the main road that touches a far off portion of the property the playground is on and not in winter when the structures are covered in snow and no one is around and only where there are workers actively working in construction zones near to the roadway. Not unmanned zones that never have workers and where the project seems to go on forever with no activity
•Install speed bumps at the school zones, playgrounds and temporary one in construction zones.
With all of the above in place it is guaranteed that the program will be dumped due to lack of revenue and the City not wanting to pay to catch to odd offender. Then it will also prove that the motive all along has only been one of revenue and the only safety concern was the safety of the program period.
Just Slow Down, Drive Safe And Keep Your Money In Your Pocket
Larry Stefanuik
TrafficTicketGuru.com
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