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Photo by Curtis Galbraith
By Emily Keller
photo radar

Photo radar freeze will still allow City to maintain status quo

Dec 10, 2019 | 3:35 PM

The provincial government announced a freeze on Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE), more commonly referred to as photo radar in November.

The freeze came into effect on December 1 and makes it so there will be no increase or updates of existing equipment and/or technologies.

Chris Manuel, Director of Protective and Social Services for the City, says the City’s contract regarding photo radar is coming up soon.

“So at the conclusion of our contract, so if we wanted to go a different direction, utilizing a different system, it looks like we probably wouldn’t be able to do that until the freeze and the reviews completed, but if we want to maintain the status quo, we’re free to do that.”

The province says starting January 2020, they plan to work with police services and municipalities to set up a system based on stronger data and reporting requirements.

While the photo radar system has been accused of being used only to generate revenue, Manuel says Grande Prairie makes around one to two percent from ATE as a total of the city’s budget.

The province’s new photo radar guidelines, announced in February 2019, included having transportation safety, not revenue generation, as the main goal of operating an ATE program.

Manuel says that Grande Prairie’s traffic safety isn’t based solely around photo radar.

“We have RCMP, we have Peace Officers, we do commercial vehicle enforcement, we work with engineering and we [have] an education program, so through those approaches, we have seen a significant decline in both overall and injury collisions since the strategy was deployed back in 2015, ’16, I believe.”

The freeze is indented to be in place for up to two years, with a potential end to the freeze in November of 2021, or until changes are made based on reviews.

More information about the freeze can be found here.

by Emily Keller