Speeding :
A Photo Radar Discussion with the Director of Devon's Program
As I mentioned in previous posts¹, I wanted to see the Traffic Safety Plan (TSP) that the Town of Devon created before the Alberta Solicitor General would authorize² use of photo radar on a major Alberta highway through the town.

Well, as you probably can tell by the tone of my previous blogs, my personal view was that the use of photo radar on the major highway through Devon wasn't warranted. But I wanted to withhold final judgment or a long soapbox rant until I reviewed all the facts. It may hubris of me to state that nobody except myself and the Alberta Solicitor General had requested or reviewed Devon's TSP before today, but that's pretty much what has occurred.

A copy of Devon's Traffic Safety Plan will be posted soon.

Speeding Discussion

I had Tuesday off, so I was able to return David Schaefer's voice mail from the previous evening. Mr. Schaefer is the director of 'Community and Protective Services' in Devon and led the implementation of their photo radar program. He told me I could pick up the copy of the TSP report that morning at the front desk. So when I dropped by their office to pick it up - 'Dave' asked me if I would sit down and discuss the program. He was willing and open to discussing their operation, my concerns and he also voiced his own personal opinions or experiences regarding speeding.

Now, I'm not a journalist by any stretch and this isn't journalism. I highly recommend that you review the plan, contact³ him or the Devon office by email/phone and voice your concerns if you have any.

Here are some of the highlights of our conversation on the controversial program that is due to start up again. I won't try to quote him verbatim for fear of misquoting somebody who obviously made time in his busy schedule for a random taxpayer. Hopefully the major points are all covered here, but I will offer a forum to him or others for comment/rebuttal if requested.

In early 2004, once the issue with a very high collision rate on the highway was identified by the town council, there was a review with the local RCMP and other stakeholders. They decided to follow the Solicitor General's guidelines to implement the photo radar program, but found a few ambiguities in the policies. This included a zero tolerance level that is often discussed regarding speeding violations. We all assume or know that RCMP will give at least 10-15km/hr above the posted limit before they will pull us over. Dave told me that he had to clarify with the province that their guidelines were indeed "zero tolerance" - meaning anybody who is over the posted limit gets a moving violation. My neighbor, an Edmonton police officer, mentioned that he often would give at least 16km/hr over the limit when he was policing traffic 'years ago.' I cannot confirm if all tickets issued by Devon utilized the zero tolerance, just that it was the directive given by the province's Solicitor General.

Devon's TSP plan speaks of the targets that came out of the review with the RCMP. I am a firm believer in traffic stops for seatbelt and other violations as statistics show that major arrests have been made of criminals with outstanding warrants. I was glad to see that the photo radar program was not replacing their traffic policing effort.

We agreed that public knowledge of areas of high collision locations has to improve. He told me of the usual protestors that try to notify people of the impending speed trap, something which he felt actually produced the desired end result - people slowed down. I have found that there is no ill will felt towards people that try to perform this 'duty', other than concerns for distracting drivers or putting themselves in a dangerous situation (pedestrian on the highway carrying a sign).

During the first week that the program was implemented they had a very high rate of speeding : 1000 incidents per 8 hour day. After review of the initial tickets issued for that first week, they decided that they had better wait for a week or two for the dust to settle to give people a chance to adjust to the new policy. They decided also to step up their publicity of the program through signage and notices in the town's local paper.

I was also assured that the money collected went into trust and would be used in the future for one time purchases to improve facilities or policing. I had worried that it might go into supporting operations and as the revenue decreased with less speeders being ticketed, the famous month end blitz of radar traps that we see in Edmonton could be instigated. Edmonton Police have said their is no quota for photo radar - but that organization is suffering from lack of direction and credibility to make such a claim. But that is another discussion.

The input I gave about public relations of the issue with speeding on the highway was welcomed. I suggested a sign with 'your speed' be implemented - we had both seen that used in the city somewhat successfully. We also discussed a merge lane for left turning traffic and other 'traffic calming' improvements - including a traffic light in the middle intersection or access route into Devon that could help regulate/control traffic flows. Dave assured me also that a plan was forthcoming on changes to the intersection between highway 19 and 60 - south of Devon that causes major congestion and frustration for right turning traffic. We both felt that this could be the cause of some aggressive driving tendencies to pass drivers to make up 'lost time' as they approach Devon.

But it appears funding will have to be forthcoming before major changes occur to the highway. Dave assured me that they are lobbying the MLAs and government agencies hard on improvements to the highway as traffic has doubled since the last traffic survey was done by the province in 1996.

Summary

I greatly appreciate Mr. Schaefer's time and effort today. I believe many of my misconceptions or prejudice on the program in Devon were changed as a result of the talk I had with him. The review I did with him has shown me that as the leader of the program, he has done his diligence and the end result was a drastic reduction in collisions on the highway and in town.

However, it's the major highways in Alberta that pass by other jurisdictions that I worry about now. With the zero tolerance guidelines from the Solicitor General and the possibility that Leduc and other municipalities are looking to start up a photo radar program, they could quite easily could become a cash cow. The next municipality will most likely use Devon's collision reduction success as leverage to start their own program. But with higher traffic volumes and less commuter or local traffic on other busy highways between Alberta's major cities, the number of tickets distributed could take months to level off.

Yes, there is more to come...


Resources

1 Town of Devon - Community and Protective Services Staff Contact information

2 Alberta Solicitor General
The Solicitor General authorizes and provides guidelines for municipalities to hire special constables that can generate photo radar tickets.

Previous Related Blogs

Devon Photo Radar - Intro Sunday, April 10, 2005

Request for a copy of Devon's Traffic Safety Report Thursday, April 07, 2005





- posted by Steve @ 11:30 PM