Three weeks after new restrictions on photo radar took effect, Edmonton councillors are asking the city to look into alternative ways to conduct traffic enforcement to keep streets safe.
The new Alberta government regulations took effect April 1, prohibiting photo radar on numbered provincial highways and limiting its use to school, playground and construction zones.
Beyond these areas, local governments have to submit their case and show evidence of higher collision rates.
In those cases, the “speed on green” function for intersection cameras is restricted to red light enforcement — and only allowed in areas with a higher frequenccy rate for collisions, injury and fatal collisions, relative to similar areas or intersections over a three-year period.
The new rules reduce the overall number of sites where photo radar could be used by about 70 per cent — from about 2,400 sites to around 650 across the province.
“Our city has grown to 1.25 million people, yet now the province is removing a key tool for safe streets,” city councillor Michael Janz said at city hall on Tuesday.
“So what are they gonna do instead? Are they gonna send us more police officers? Are they going to send us some more peace officers? And if they’re not, what is it that the city of Edmonton can do to help ensure safe streets?”
To that end, councillors unanimously passed a motion on Tuesday asking city administration to come back with the report by this fall with ideas for supplemental operating budget adjustments, and ways the city can ensure streets are safe without spending more money.
“So the goal of that motion was, it’s not what you take away, it’s what you leave behind and we all deserve safe streets,” Janz said.
“This is something I hear about all the time, especially from families, and especially from folks who are concerned about speeding, concerned about short-cutting.”
While photo radar makes up a portion of a municipality’s budget, officials say the issue is more about safety.
“Is there a way that we can have more enforcement out on the roads? Because education isn’t gonna get us there,” Janz said.
“We need to have enforcement, especially in the areas where we have the most egregious speeding.”
The new rules that came info effect three weeks ago are the latest move in a process that began over five years ago.
Both the previous NDP government and current the United Conservative government placed restrictions on how municipalities use photo radar sites.
In 2019, the then-NDP government introduced a freeze on new locations and banned photo radar in transition zones: spots where the speed limit changes on highways.
Photo radar was also banned on high-speed, multi-lane highways unless there was documented proof of safety concerns.
The freeze was then extended when in 2022, the UCP said no photo radar was allowed on residential roads with speed limits below 50 km/h. (Keep in mind, many Edmonton streets are now 40 km/h.)
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Double dipping — issuing multiple tickets within five minutes — was also banned. Photo radar vehicles then had to become highly visible.
Cities couldn’t run photo radar in construction zones except when construction workers were present and it was only allowed in school zones when classes were in session.
In November 2023, Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen banned photo radar on Calgary and Edmonton’s ring roads, Stoney Trail and Anthony Henday Drive.
A City of Edmonton photo radar truck conducting Anthony Henday Drive traffic enforcement on the Yellowhead Trail overpass in northwest Edmonton on Thursday, November 23, 2023.
Global News
Over the ensuing year (before the current rules were announced this past December) the province engaged with municipalities and law enforcement to remove all “fishing hole” locations — spots where there is no clear safety reason for photo radar and the province said tickets were only being issued to collect money.
In December, Dreeshen said the province saw a “mixed bag” of data measuring photo radar’s effect on collision numbers.
According to the province, applications for an exemption must include details of high-collision frequency and severity relative to similar locations, as well as details on “how other safety measures are not possible or will be ineffective.”
The exempted sites must also be required to undergo an audit every two years to assess the effectiveness of the enforcement.
While some groups like Rural Municipalities of Alberta applauded the move to limit photo radar, other groups like Alberta Municipalities and the Safer Roads Alliance oppose it.
“When you look at the research and the data, when enforcement is present, that has a direct impact on people’s behaviour as it relates to driving,” said Debbie Hammond, Coalition Executive Director with Safer Roads Alliance.
It’s a member-driven, not-for-profit organization made up of industry, municipal governments, and other community partners working to prevent highway fatalities and injuries across Alberta and Western Canada.
“We do — or did — have good road safety act and laws, but it seems like for some reason, the government is sort of changing some of those policies,” Hammond said. “I think that does leave our enforcement partners a little more vulnerable in terms of how are they going to address this relatively big gap.”
Mark Neufeld, the head of the Calgary Police Service and president of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police, has said photo radar is working, and if the sites are removed, there will be more collisions that lead to serious injuries and deaths.
He’s also warned Dreeshen’s remarks suggesting photo radar is about money over safety have the potential to undermine public trust in police.
Janz said manpower can’t replace the effectiveness of the photo radar cameras.
“Whether you agree with that or not, we’re not going to have 1,000 police cars out on the streets now as a result. So how are we going to make sure we still have safe streets?”
It’s not yet known what the city’s plan would actually look like, but Janz said he envisions giving more responsibility to bylaw officers to make up the gap, by allowing them to pull over speeders.
“Not so long ago, I myself got a ticket in Fort Saskatchewan, but the person who pulled me over was not an RCMP —it was a bylaw officer,” Janz said. “So bylaw officers in that area are able to give tickets and to do enforcement.
“We need to explore that same power for the City of Edmonton.”
For years Dreeshen has called photo radar a cash cow he’s pledged to kill, and on Tuesday Alberta Transportation reiterated his message.
“To support municipalities in improving safety, we have created a $13-million Traffic Safety Fund for their use to enhance local roads and intersections that pose demonstrated safety hazards.”
The province said municipalities are encouraged to use or install traffic calming measures instead of photo radar, but may request provincial approval for an exemption.
The province also said police and other law enforcement agencies can still conduct conventional speed enforcement anywhere in their jurisdiction.
“Conventional enforcement is more impactful on driver behavior through demerits and potential auto insurance increases, rather than receiving a ticket in the mail weeks later.”
Hammond said the data shows traffic enforcement saves lives.
“There’s really no research that I’m aware of that would indicate that there’s anything negative about it, pretty much every research paper done on automated enforcement says the same thing — it does change the behaviour — albeit maybe it’s temporary, but nevertheless, it does have an impact.”
Safer Roads Alliance said photo radar helped communities manage traffic, especially on busy roads that slow down inside municipalities such as Highway 3 though Lethbridge or Medicine Hat, or Highway 63 through Fort McMurray.
“Those are all busy, busy roadways and automated enforcement had a really big part in slowing that traffic down and altering bad behaviour in that particular moment.”
The Traffic Safety Fund is set at $13 million over the next three years for the 25 municipalities that used photo radar devices.
Earlier this month, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that Traffic Safety Fund is a drop in the bucket and doesn’t make up for the shortfall.
Janz said this is just one example of the province getting involved in areas not traditionally its jurisdiction, citing an example last week were Transporation Minister Devin Dreeshen called on Edmonton to stop bike lane installation.
“Some days it feels like the provinces is just trying to centralize and control everything from the cabinet table, and that they don’t want to see school boards or city councils or anyone else doing anything.
“If that’s the case, they need to tell that to Albertans. They need to say, ‘We don’t believe in municipal government anymore. And we believe decisions should be made by the premier’s office.’”
Global News reached out to the City of Edmonton for data on how many photo radar spots are left inside the municipality, as well as what recently installed blue and yellow markers on intersection cameras indicate, but the information was not available as of publishing.
