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Council hears report on Automated Traffic Enforcement

Jul 9, 2018 | 9:30 PM

The City of Red Deer is grappling with how to balance the amount of tickets handed out by way of Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE).

City council heard a report Monday night outlining how its policy should look going forward and how it can help address transparency while also increasing the level of safety for those using local roadways.

Director of Protective Services Paul Goranson noted the 88 per cent ratio of ATE to conventional roadside enforcement when it comes to speeding, a number found in a Feb. 2017 audit of Red Deer’s system.

He says the province wants that number lower.

“When we talk to them about what the intent of that is, and we agree, they’re saying there are benefits to the immediacy of a ticket as opposed to getting a photo radar ticket in the mail two weeks after,” he says. “The personal interaction creates more impact, and opportunity to find different infractions that may be happening.”

Goranson also says the ratio only takes into account manual infractions for speeding, and doesn’t count those which may happen for something like a broken tail light or for not wearing seatbelt.

“Like anyone that has any kind of automated traffic enforcement in place, their ratios will be high,” he continues. “When we asked them about other municipalities, they said Edmonton (for example) is higher.”

Red Deer installed red light cameras and photo radar in 2000. In 2017, the ATE program expanded to include ‘speed on green’ which rotates four cameras between 10 locations int he city.

Preliminary numbers for how well speed on green is doing were not readily available.

A 2015 report done by The City’s Engineering Services department showed a 50 per cent reduction in right angle crashes, a 60 per cent reduction in left turn cross path crashes, and a seven per cent drop in rear end collisions between the introduction of red light cameras and 2011.

The policy can be read here.