Medicine Hat Police under provincial photo radar equipment freeze

“We actually hadn’t heard anything about this, which is quite surprising,” said McGrogan. “You think there would have been some consultation with police services.”

The freeze is part of a move by the UCP government to take a closer look into photo radar and its effectiveness in making streets safer.

They’re expanding the NDP’s photo radar review which was released back in February, which implemented a number of new guidelines for where photo radar locations can be set up.

“We actually support the NDP’s review,” said minister of transportation Ric McIver. “We support the changes that they made about where photo radar can and can not be used and the conditions under which it should be used, and we have actually kept them in place.”

McIver said the biggest issue they found with the previous report was limited data, something they want to correct by meeting with all 27 municipalities in Alberta that use photo radar.

“The review itself admitted that data is limited and inconsistent, and we need more strict requirements to ensure that photo radar is being used for safety rather than revenue,” he said.

In Tuesday’s announcement, McIver and minister of justice Doug Schweitzer explained the freeze is being levied to prevent police departments and municipalities from spending money on units that might not be used in a few years time.

Medicine Hat Police was planning to buy a handheld photo radar unit in the coming months for ring roads like Parkview Drive and South Boundary Road.

Now put on the back burner, McGrogan said it’s something that will set the back a bit.

“There’s a couple areas like that where we can’t basically do speed enforcement without a tool similar to this,” he said. “So, in that way yes, but it’s been that way for a while now and it’s not a big deal.”

Photo radar tickets have decreased steadily over the last four years in Medicine Hat from 37,795 in 2015 down to 21,166 last year.

So far in 2019, the Medicine Hat Police Commission is reporting 20,019 photo radar tickets have been handed out.

Those CHAT News spoke to on Tuesday were split on the merit of photo radar however with one driver calling the technology a ‘cash grab,’ while another didn’t see any issue with speeding drivers being ticketed.

Despite the freeze, the province isn’t letting drivers off the hook as current photo radar stations will continue to operate as normal.

“There will still be photo radar on Alberta roads during this temporary freeze,” said McIver. “Not more, not less, the same amount.”

McIver is waiting to see what the stats say before making a decision on the future of photo radar in Alberta, however there is a chance the program could be scrapped if there are no tangible improvement in safety numbers.

“If it’s for safety, we’re going to keep it for revenue collection,” said McIver. If it’s only for revenue collection, we won’t. But, we don’t want to pre-suppose where the evidence will take us.”

McGrogan himself is in support of photo radar adding he’s seen the impact it can have in communities, but said the safety numbers are what’s important.

“It should be about safety, not about money, and is it creating safety?” he said. “I think that’s what the government wants to look at and fair enough.”

Photo radar generated $220 million across the province in 2016-17, with Alberta’s photo radar per capita ratio being three times as high as British Columbia and Manitoba.

by Scott Roblin

Medicine Hat Police under provincial photo radar equipment freeze

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