Edmonton catches a lot of flack for its Photo Radar program. I believe automated enforcement has a continuing role to play as a tool in our enforcement toolbox, but significant reforms must be made. You can watch my video on the Edmonton Journal website as I talk about some of the data related to photo radar.

Photo radar locations should be preceded 150-300m by a digital speedboard.

Commonly one hears about the "cash cow" of photo radar - it's hard not to when one of our major daily papers publishes frequent editorials calling it that. That means when someone receives a photo radar ticket, their go to emotion is to dismiss it as a cash grab, rather than learn. We need the system to show, conclusively, that it's not interested in tricking citizens to increase revenue. By mandating locations stay behind a speedboard we provide the carrot - drivers can adjust their behaviour in the moment when they get feedback that they are speeding. If they do not... ticket. Only drivers who willfully violated the law after they were told in the moment not to are ticketed, and the common complaint about transition zones is solved.

Photo radar data should be open, automatically.

Without consistent, diligent auditing by the public we risk abuse of the system. Photo radar locations, the enforcement hours at those locations, and the number of tickets issued should be published into the open data catalogue for anyone to view and use no more than a week after enforcement completes at that location.

While location data has been released into the open data catalogue before enforcement occurs, that is not enough, as it still requires trust from the public. We need after-the-fact data to prove what really happened, in order for audits to begin to rebuild public trust.

Infrastructure changes should be made at photo radar locations, until the locations are no longer necessary

The City of Edmonton has chosen Vision Zero as our traffic safety strategy. That means we should prioritize infrastructure changes that naturally manage traffic flow and safety. These changes should be made at problem locations in order to make photo enforcement at those locations no longer necessary.

Areas like the Anthony Henday where infrastructure changes are unlikely to combat unsafe behaviour like aggressive lane changing, tailgating and excessive speeding are likely better served through manned enforcement by police for a wide range of traffic violations.

Let's make our automated enforcement system actually work for the citizens and increase traffic safety.

Elect Troy Pavlek to Edmonton City Council in Ward 11.

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