Edmonton City Hall stands behind local speed-camera program
Sherwood Park will halt photo radar by next fall, but don't expect Edmonton to hit the brakes any time soon.
Strathcona County council voted 5-4 on Tuesday to replace its mobile photo radar cameras with five new enforcement officers by next September. The decision won't affect speed cameras at intersections.
Coun. Brian Botterill, who introduced the motion, said photo radar isn't an effective deterrent.
"Drivers will get a $200 fine and it's not like they're not feeding their family. It's almost more of a nuisance," said Botterill. "If you get a demerit, you can possibly lose your licence or your insurance will go up."
Botterill has seen photo radar placed in "arbitrary" speed transition zones, or even in areas accident-free for more than a year. Additional enforcement officers, who work for the county, will nab distracted and impaired drivers and hand out demerits for speeders, he said.
Retired Mountie Coun. Peter Wlodarczak was among the councillors who voted against the measure. Wlodarczak, head of the Strathcona RCMP detachment between 1998 and 2001, just after the technology was brought in, said photo radar is an essential component in traffic enforcement. "Knowing it's there, you slow down," said Wlodarczak. "There will be a void in enforcement without it."
The city will extend its contract for photo radar for the next eight months, then on a month-to-month basis until the new officers are trained. The county expects to lose more than $500,000 a year in ticket revenue, plus incur about $900,000 in first-year costs to expand and train the force.
Strathcona RCMP have also talked about eventually adding an additional six officers in subsequent years, Botterill said.
Botterill said any revenue losses should be made up through property taxes, since traffic enforcement is about safety, not revenue.
Bob Boutilier, transportation general manager at the City of Edmonton, said the city has no plans to follow suit. Edmonton's high-speed thoroughfares make traffic enforcement a safety challenge, and manned photo-radar vans are a cost-effective tool, Boutilier said. Edmonton police are left to target problem areas, and don't use the technology as a "cash cow."
"The deployment strategy is based on complaints," Boutilier said. "It's directed specifically where we see a problem, not at areas where we want to make money."
Edmonton's photo-enforcement program - which includes 14 vans and about 40 intersection cameras - brings in $20 million a year. The province collects the revenue and keeps more than 20 per cent, then returns the rest to the city. The city allocates the remaining funds back to traffic and policing programs.
Boutilier said $10 million goes into the traffic-enforcement unit, while the rest funds general policing, camera systems, a University of Alberta chair in urban traffic safety, and an annual traffic safety conference.
"This is not about generating revenue," he said.
There are differing opinions about photo radar on Edmonton city council, with a consensus on the superiority of manned enforcement.
Coun. Kerry Diotte called Strathcona County's decision "a bold move and a smart move," and said photo radar doesn't catch outstanding warrants, stolen property, or expired licences. "It's a real benefit to have real police officers as opposed to camera enforcement, I think, and it's worth looking at for Edmonton," Diotte said.
Mayor Stephen Mandel said he supports photo radar and is awaiting a proposal from police Chief Rod Knecht about expanding manned enforcement.
"You catch a different group of people. Conventional radar opens up new and different doors," he said.
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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Photo+radar+Sherwood+Park/5406080/story.html
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