Photo: Shaun Penner

By Emily Keller

photo radar

City looking to renew contract to continue Automated Traffic Enforcement program

May 4, 2020 | 1:39 PM

The City of Grande Prairie is exploring options around their Automated Traffic Enforcement program (ATE), more commonly known as photo radar, as the ATE contract with Global Traffic Group Ltd (GTG) expires on May 31, 2020.

At a Council Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, committee voted to move forward with contract negotiations with their ATE program, and have Administration look to renew the contract for three more years.

Administration has also been asked to discuss having educational information mailed out with tickets, consideration of overt and covert enforcement vehicles, and payment terms that are not based on fine revenue generation.

The City has been operating their ATE program since 2015, after Grande Prairie saw a 155 per cent increase in motor vehicle collisions resulting in injuries between 2011 and 2014.

Council then put a Safe City Roads Action Plan (SCRP) in place, which focused on enforcement, education, engineering and analytics. They then entered into a contract with Global Traffic Group on June 1, 2015, to focus on enhanced enforcement.

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GTG oversees the installation and maintenance of all the equipment used, the hiring and oversight of all personnel, and reviewing, approving and validating of all violations found through the automated traffic enforcement program.

Currently, there have been a total of 126 hours per week of mobile speed enforcement, 15 hours per week of stop sign enforcement, 15 hours per week of mobile red-light enforcement, and 10 Intersection Safety Device (ISD) cameras that can be put at various intersections in the city.

In the first quarter of 2020, ATE operations were cut significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic because of less vehicles on the roads and no school zones due to closures. Enforcement services had reduced photo enforcement operators from seven to four part time positions working 20 hours a week each.

Totals of traffic violations and offences that have been processed through GTG were presented to Committee as well.

A table with totals of the processed violations found through the ATE program (City of Grande Prairie)

The City also highlighted the effects which ISD’s have on motorist’s behaviours at intersections where they are present. One of the first intersections in the city to have an ISD installed was at 100 Street and 132 Avenue.

A chart showing the decrease of traffic violations and offences in the northbound lanes at 100 Street and 132 Avenue (City of Grande Prairie)

Overall, the City as a whole has seen a decrease in collisions since 2012.

A chart showcasing the decreases of collisions in Grande Prairie from 2012 to 2019 (RCMP PROS Database)

Committee also discussed the amount of revenue generated through ATE. The City’s part of fine revenue goes into the enforcement budget, which they say reduces the overall tax cost for residents that comes from policing, including RCMP contract costs. The Government of Alberta collects 58.01% of all revenue from ATE since the 2020 budget.

In 2019, the Net Court Fine Revenue was $3,631,880.

Committee also voted to have administration bring forward options to report fine revenues separate from the RCMP departmental and enforcement services budgets, and to bring consideration to add a dedicated staff position to oversee the ATE at the fall budget deliberations.

Administration is expected to bring back the contract negotiations in mid-May.