Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Police want traffic-cam freedom
They'll lobby to lift curbs
on location of mobile units GOALS OF FIVE-YEAR PHOTO-ENFORCEMENT PLAN
As legislation stands now, the radar vehicles that photograph speeding drivers can be stationed only at playgrounds, schools and construction zones.
But police are preparing to pitch the provincial government to change the rules so the mobile photo-radar can move to areas where crash rates and speeding complaints are highest.
"The more tools you give police, the better we can be," traffic Staff Sgt. Mark Hodgson said.
The cameras have been an overwhelming success since the program began in 2002, if not always popular among the drivers who open their mail to find photographs of their speeding vehicles and a ticket to pay a fine. In 2006, the cameras caught 70,051 speeders.
The photo-radar units -- there are 10 of them -- are currently responsible for issuing approximately 39 per cent of all Highway Traffic Act offence notices in Winnipeg. The rest are issued by the city's 48 intersection red-light cameras and by traditional, officer-based speed enforcement.
Hodgson noted the mobile radar units are manned by commissionaires. If the speed cameras can be used in a wider area of the city, traffic officers can spend more time on crimes the cameras can't enforce, such as catching impaired drivers.
"We have a finite number of traffic officers we can deploy," Hodgson said.
There are no plans to ask for more photo-radar cameras. When police lobby the province, likely within a year, they will ask only for the freedom to move the cameras to places where they'll do the most good.
"This is all about safety as far as police are concerned," Hodgson said,
A problem with the current use of photo radar is that many drivers have become used to them because the vehicles are limited as to where they can go. Many drivers spot them from far away and slow down, only to speed up again when beyond the camera's view.
A provincial spokesman said the government is open to suggestions from police on how to improve public and road safety -- provided a demonstrable case can be made for how it improves public safety.
Hodgson said that shouldn't be a problem.
He said recent data collected by police shows there were about 900 speeding violations on streets near Lansdowne School in Winnipeg's North End since the beginning of 2008.
He said those infractions happened outside the legal definition of a school zone, meaning photo radar could not be set up to catch them, but it's in a neighbourhood where kids walk to school.
The campaign to loosen the law on photo radar will be backed with research by an Ontario company recently hired to do a study of Winnipeg's program. The study by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation during the next few months will form part of the lobby effort by police to show six years of photo enforcement has made streets safer and that it is now time to take it to the next level.
Police have considered seeking a legislation change for awhile, but only recently became more aggressive about it after Keith McCaskill became chief a year ago.
A spokesman for Opposition Leader Hugh McFadyen said any change to photo-enforcement legislation should be based on road safety, not on more tickets and more revenue to the city.
Late last year, the city finalized a five-year deal with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) of Dallas, Texas, to continue running the traffic-camera program. The new contract will see police receive a projected $27.7 million over the next five years, with $12.9 million earmarked for the street-crime unit and the rest going to general police revenue.
ACS also has contracts in Fort McMurray, Red Deer, Camrose, St. Albert and Strathcona County in Alberta, in Regina in Saskatchewan, and in Hamilton, Ottawa, the Peel Region and Toronto in Ontario.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 8, 2008 A3
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