Drivers deserve ticket refund: Tories

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JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Archives A commissonaire does photo radar in a construction zone on Lagimodiere Boulevard.

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KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS / Aug. 14 2008 080814 - no Video offered Thurs. - James Turner story - in pic Justice Minister , Attorney General Dave Chomiak explains the intricacies of policing in Manitoba .

WINNIPEG - The provincial Tories demanded refunds Monday for thousands of motorists who have already paid their fines for speeding through construction zones where no workers were present.

The call came just after the province decided to drop its photo radar appeal.

Progressive Conservative justice critic Kelvin Goertzen said that's the only way the city and province can correct what officials admitted was the improper way construction zone speeding violations have been enforced from January 2003 to the middle of last month.

But Attorney General Dave Chomiak said anybody who's already paid a ticket won't get a refund.

Chomiak said paying a fine is an admittance of guilt, and that won't change.

"It's going to cause problems, I know," Chomiak said. "If you already pleaded guilty, that's a fact."

The issue of refunds surfaced barely minutes after Deputy Attorney General Don Slough said the Crown had abandoned its appeal of a traffic court case in which a magistrate threw out nine photo radar tickets snapped in workerless construction zones.

Slough said Monday the decision to dump its appeal wasn't made on the merits of the case, but the fact police weren't ticketing speeders according to the letter of the law.

Slough said when Crown officials examined the case following the lower court's decision earlier this year, they learned the signs warning motorists of construction zones had not been set up correctly.

By law a sign must be set up at the start of a construction zone and at the end, he said.

Slough said it was determined a sign had only been placed at the beginning.

As a result, the Crown has dropped 857 ticket cases still pending in the court process. Ticket holders will be notified by mail.

Those who've already paid their tickets want a refund.

"I was ticketed at 74 km/h at 8:25 p.m. when there were no construction workers present," one commentor on the Free Press website wrote. "My ticket was $190... nothing but a money grab and totally nothing to do with safety. I was 8.7 kilometres more than the speed limit and a fair ticket would have been $75 maximum."

The dropped tickets mean the city and the company that operates the mobile cameras will lose a conservative estimate of $1.2 million in fine revenue.

The average torn-up ticket amounts to $116 in lost revenue for Winnipeg, chief financial officer Mike Ruta said in a statement.

Winnipeg and Manitoba each get about 50 cents from every photo radar dollar, he said.

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz said he agreed with the decision. "If construction workers are not in danger, it should not be a construction zone," he said, adding it doesn't matter how much money the city has lost out on.

Slough and Chomiak also said as of April 11 police and the city are using the correct signs when using photo radar.

When crews are working signs are posted and speeds are reduced. When the crew goes home the signs come down. If there are safety issues like equipment left in one lane the signs will stay up and speeds will still be reduced.

Slough also said when Crown officials learned about the signs a decision was made to drop the appeal as it would weaken their case.

Photo radar made headlines earlier this year when third-year University of Manitoba law student Jodi Koffman successfully argued it was the intention of lawmakers to only enforce reduced speeds in construction zones when workers are present and not otherwise.

Magistate Norm Sundstrom agreed. In a written decision he said in all of the cases before him the motorists were proven to have exceeded the temporary posted speed of 60 kilometres per hour -- not the actual 80 km/h speed limit -- in worker-free construction zones.

The Crown then appealed Sundstrom's decision.

Goertzen said if the Crown was willing to spend the court's time on a frivolous appeal it can now spend time issuing refunds.

"If (Sundstrom's) ruling is now right then presumably the tickets were wrong," he said.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Already paid

your ticket?

Don't go looking for a refund,

Attorney General Dave Chomiak

said.

Simply, by paying your ticket

you admitted your guilt.

And guilty people don't get their

money back.

Not so fast...

Dropping the appeal and staying

the charges on 857 tickets entitles

everyone caught speeding in a

workerless construction zone a

refund, says Tory justice critic

Kelvin Goertzen.

The information when each

photo ticket was issued is still on

record.

That information can be compared

with records of when a

construction crew was on the job.

Are you

affected?

Did you pay a speeding ticket for

a violation in a construction zone

when workers weren't present?

Email us at feedback@freepress.

mb.ca with your comments.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 5, 2009 A4