The province will no longer allow photo radar on Calgary’s ring road, further limiting the ability of local law enforcement to issue tickets to speeding drivers.
In an announcement Thursday, the Alberta Government said it would ban the use of photo radar on Calgary and Edmonton ring roads, starting Dec. 1.
At the same time, Alberta’s government will work with municipalities and police over the next year to remove all “fishing hole” spots across the province. They want to make sure that photo radar is only used to make roads safer. Police units that would have gone to patrolling on the ring roads can further be used to patrol in high-needs areas like school zones and other community areas.
“Alberta has the highest usage of photo radar in Canada, and these changes will finally eliminate the cash cow that affects so many Albertans. Photo radar must only be used to improve traffic safety, and with these changes, municipalities will no longer be able to issue thousands of speeding tickets simply to generate revenue,” said Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors
The limit on introducing new photo radar equipment, programs, or locations will be extended to Dec. 1, 2024. Edmonton and Calgary will have the choice to shift the previously used photo radar units from the ring roads to specific areas within their cities where they can make a safety difference, such as school zones, playgrounds, and construction areas, the province said.
Ward 10 Calgary city councillor Andre Chabot was in favour of the provincial government changes.
“I am very pleased to see this change to allow our police force to redeploy photo radar from Stoney Trail into high-risk areas in our communities such as school zones, construction zones and playground zones due to changing traffic patterns,” Coun. Chabot said.
“This will result in increased traffic safety for all Calgary drivers and pedestrians.”
Significant impact on CPS
Photo radar guidelines were updated in December 2021, with compliance expected throughout 2022. Among the changes were a new definition of transition zones with rapid changes in speed, no photo radar on residential streets below 50 km/h (unless school, playground or construction zones), restricting tickets being issued within 5 minutes of one another, ‘wrap’ photo radar vehicles with decals to show they’re for enforcement, and advertise the photo radar sites online and through social media.
That’s had an impact, Calgary police said.
According to the data from the Calgary Police Service (CPS), there were 16,476 summonses issued in March last year before the implementation of the photo radar changes. In March 2023, that had dropped to 7,371.
The data indicates that in 2022, there were 174,519 summonses issued, while in 2023, until October, the number dropped to 70,469 summonses issued by photo radar vehicles. This is a 40 per cent decrease in the summonses issued during this period, according to Calgary police.
Alberta’s first photo radar units were introduced in 1987 and now there are about 2,387 photo radar sites across the province. Calgary’s ring road has eight photo radar sites and Edmonton’s ring road has 22. These ring road photo radar sites can be relocated to sensitive areas. This means that Calgary can select eight high-risk areas and Edmonton can select 22 high-risk areas to redeploy these sites, according to provincial information.
Photo radar generated $171 million in 2022-2023.
Traffic fine revenue is split between the province and municipalities, with the province receiving 40 per cent and municipalities receiving 60 per cent.
The Calgary police responded Thursday afternoon to proposed changes to photo radar.
“With new changes pertaining to automated enforcement deployment locations announced today by the Government of Alberta, we are looking forward to redeploying automated enforcement that was previously used along Stoney Trail, to a number of playground zones within the city,” read an emailed statement.
“With growing communities and new developments continuing to be built in all quadrants of Calgary, these changes will allow the Calgary Police Service an opportunity to deploy automated enforcement into areas identified as having elevated speed and collision issues in our efforts to promote safe driving habits and protect vulnerable road users.”
Earlier this week, at City of Calgary budget deliberations, Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld was asked by Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong when the freeze on photo radar might end.
“In my capacity as President of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police, we did write a letter to the province asking to get back the autonomy to control sites and that type of thing. We were advised there would be a decision made by the end of November,” Chief Neufeld said.
