Opinion: Provincial review of photo radar is unnecessary

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on December 6, 2019.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

We already have all the data we need to determine whether photo radar is being used as a cash cow or to improve safety on our roads, there is no need for a two-year review.

Ric McIver, minister of transport, recently announced the government’s planned review, noting that guidelines needed to be refined. It would take a couple of years because municipalities using photo radar would all need to be collecting the same data so that a fair comparison could be made. The current data available is “limited and inconsistent,” he explained.

Currently only 27 of about 350 municipalities in Alberta, have photo radar and that is probably the best data Alberta could need.

There is already data on the number of collisions in all of those 350 municipalities so it should be fairly simple to see a trend.

If the 27 municipalities with photo radar show less collisions per capita than those without, there is clearly value in photo radar in terms of traffic safety regardless of where the cameras are located.

There may be a trickle-down effect in that drivers in those municipalities are paying more attention in general – even when no photo radar location is in sight. Drivers is those cities may be slowing down in general thereby improving safety.

If the 323 municipalities without photo radar show a higher collision rate per capita than those with photo radar clearly they should be required to immediately implement photo radar for the sake of public safety. It could then be argued that the government has a responsibility to require photo radar in every municipality without further delay.

If this two-year review is only going to analyze the 27 municipalities with photo radar, it will perhaps only indicate which jurisdictions are better at deciding on the placement of photo radar cameras rather than reveal how it compares to those without photo radar.

The municipalities with photo radar generated $220 million in revenue in 2016/17. Just imagine the revenue stream at all levels if the other 323 municipalities enforced photo radar because the data showed it made people safer.

According to a review of photo radar in 2018, Alberta’s photo radar device per capita ratio is three times higher than other provinces.

That is potentially a very useful data too in determining the value of photo radar.

Three times higher per capita would translate to a similar increase in the number of vehicles on the road. If improved safety is the result of photo radar it would stand to reason that road safety is three times better in Alberta’s municipalities with photo radar than in other provinces.

The first photo radar units in Alberta were introduced more than three decades ago.

Looking at the evidence that has already been collected for the last 30 years also eliminates the possibility of any accusation of new data being biased to influence results.

This could be a win-win situation for everyone.

(Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions, email her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or call her at 403-528-8635.)

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