Safer Roads Or A Cash Cow?

Just reading multiple newspaper and online articles about photo radar, in both Calgary and Edmonton. A few things of note regarding this topic and both city's use of this technology. It makes a ton of money, it's use is dramatically increasing, and it's irritating a lot of people who think that it has nothing to do with being a deterrent to speeding. 

10: the number of photo radar vehicles in Calgary

1,000,000: approximate number of vehicles registered in Calgary

273,082: the number of photo radar tickets handed out in Calgary in 2015

49.5%: increase in tickets handed out last year compared to 2014

$388.oo: red light violation fine

$78.oo to $480.oo: speeding violation fine, if under 50km over the posted speed

$21,100,000.oo: revenue collected from photo radar enforcement in Calgary

$38,600,000.oo: additional revenue collected from other 'radar sources' such as red light cameras, speed on green cameras and manned radar traps.

500%:  last year's increase from 2014 for the number of photo radar tickets handed out in Edmonton for the range of 5 - 11 kmph over the speed limit 

$451,000,000.oo: annual budget for Calgary Police Service

$297,000,000.oo: annual budget for Edmonton Police Service

$41,000,000.oo: revenue from photo radar enforcement in Edmonton

1 in 4: number of fatalities in Alberta attributed to driving at unsafe speed

1 in 10: number of injury accidents in Alberta attributed to driving at unsafe speeds

1 per day: the number of pedestrians struck by vehicles daily in Calgary

90%: pedestrian odds of surviving impact by a motor vehicle travelling under 30 kmph

50%: pedestrian odds of surviving impact by a motor vehicle travelling between 40 and 50 kmph

I often wonder if photo radar is actually a deterrent to speeding or just a convenient way to collect a lot of money, like a speeding tax, so to speak. While there may be good cause to use this type of technology to deter speeders, the statistics mentioned above, and the noted increase in the use of photo radar to bolster those high revenue stats, might suggest that both Edmonton and Calgary City Council are seeing photo radar as a cash cow. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint when it comes to speeding, though I never go over the limit in residential areas, school zones or playground zones, and not when there's construction crews or emergency responders working on or near the road. There are certainly plenty of times when I witnessed some idiotic driving and wished there was some sort of photo radar or a radar trap around to catch those morons, but I can't even remember the last time I got a speeding ticket, be it manually issued or through photo radar. The point is that all this cash collection doesn't affect me directly and it's not my beef, but it sure is irksome to think that the money collected has nothing to do with getting people to slow down and more to do with lining the City's pockets with money they can spend on whatever they want, with no real accountability on either end of the process

I saw photo radar on the highway the other night, on my way to the airport. They were set up a few hundred metres before the speed went from 100 to 110 kmph, which i though was pretty pathetic. Like....who cares? Maybe the focus should be on cracking down on speeding in excess, like the people on Hwy 2 who are going 30 or 40 kmph over, or the ones who tear around in residential neighbourhoods and don't slow down for school or playground zones. 

You be the judge..