St. Paul Town Council listened to one final plea by Global Traffic Solutions on Dec. 11 in their last ditch effort to keep photo radar in St. Paul.
After an extended presentation by CEO David Steer and Larry Bellows, a 30-year member of the RCMP with traffic enforcement, council decided to withdraw from the contract. Photo radar will be suspended as of Jan. 1, 2018.
Coun. Nathan Taylor put forward the motion to suspend photo radar. Taylor then followed up with a second motion, requesting information from Global Traffic Solutions about monitoring discrete boxes to check driving habits after photo radar is removed. That motion was also passed.
One of the factors in council’s decision was the plebiscite held during the October municipal election, with results stating 61 per cent of residents are against the program. Mayor Maureen Miller is quick to point out that it wasn’t the only factor, but council did consider the results in their final decision.
“I think (photo radar) served its purpose,” she said, after the meeting. She also acknowledged “There is concern with our current council that bad (driving) habits will return (once it is removed).”
The town is looking into hiring Global Traffic Solutions back to help monitor the roads to see if drivers change their habits without the threat of a ticket if there is no RCMP officer in sight.
Miller added that both council and residents in high-risk zones, such as near school zones were concerned for public safety and photo radar helped stem some of those feelings.
“Photo radar has served the purpose it was intended to do, which was to get people to look at their driving habits and slow down,” said Coun. Norm Noel, after the meeting. Noel is the only current councillor who was also on council when the decision to proceed with photo radar was made.
“The majority have spoken and council has honoured the plebiscite vote and have voted to end photo radar,” added Noel.
The Journal asked readers for their thoughts on town council’s decision to suspend photo radar, with a number of people commenting via social media.
“About the people whining about the transition speed zones, the law is the law. I drive a fairly big truck and have absolutely no problem with slowing down in time, and (I) don’t have to cause an accident,” St. Paul residents Thomas Wolitski posted.
“Plain and simple the only people it affects are people that break the law,” Wolitski concluded.
Jim Kiss, another commenter, noted further action should be taken past the removal of photo radar.
“Since true democracy was sought out on this issue, and a clear majority voted to abolish it, then it would have been unconscionable and simply wrong for elected leaders to not respect the wishes of those who they represent. In fact, I would say any tickets issued after Oct. 16 should be voided by town council,” said Kiss.
In his presentation, Steer said 66 per cent of speed issues had been resolved in the allocated zones, with a reduction of hours of operation up to 77 per cent, insinuating the lone thought of photo radar in the areas affected driving habits.
Steer says he fears the bad driving habits will return once the threat of photo radar is gone, providing data from another community where driving violations increased 4,800 per cent after the town withdrew.
Steer added since the start of November, Global Traffic had been issuing about one ticket per day, to dispel the “cash grab” mantra held by some of the public. He further spoke on how the key priority of photo radar is safety.
The original contract with Global Traffic Solutions and the town was set to expire in 2020.
In late October, some history and statistics were offered to the newly elected town council, on the topic of photo radar. Initially, the company spent 80 hours a month in town monitoring sites approved by the RCMP, for speed and stop violations.
For any fines issued, 41 per cent was directed to the province, 19.35 per cent went to the Town of St. Paul, and 39.65 per cent went to Global Traffic.
After seeing fewer speeding incidences and getting busier in other communities, Global Traffic and the Town of St. Paul decided to drop down to 16 hours a week for monitoring speed, and four hours a week for video enforcement, for stop sign violations.
The company had again requested another decrease this fall, which would have seen enforcement go down to five hours for speed enforcement per week, and one hour for video enforcement.
During the same October meeting, it was noted that all the town’s revenue from photo radar tickets had been put back into traffic safety measures, with the crosswalks at Extra Foods and Co-op being funded through the photo radar program.
