Winnipeg Police Board chair Markus Chambers wants the province to review its legislation on photo radar, calling the current policy “proscriptive.”
“Looking at the legislation the way it’s written now, it really confines us to technology that is 23, 24 years old,” he said, referring to the Highway Traffic Act. “Looking at the tech we have in place from 2001 with respect to photo enforcement, we definitely have to step it up.”
The Act limits photo radar use to construction, school and playground zones, and intersections controlled by traffic lights. Chambers wants their use expanded to residential neighbourhoods. Updated legislation could also open the door for new technologies that can ticket someone for using their cell phone while driving, and for causing excessive noise with their vehicle.
“It is that force multiplier that we can redeploy resources to other areas in policing and make sure that those concerns are met as well,” he added.
Bourkevale resident Daevid Ramey, who advocated for lower speed limits in his neighbourhood, supports Chambers’s suggestion. Bourkevale was one of four neighbourhoods to participate in the City’s Residential Speed Limit Pilot Project. The area has since adopted a 30 km/h limit permanently, down from 50 km/h.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said, adding the community has “really embraced” the lower speed limit.
But one thing that was missing from the pilot, he says, was enforcement.
“We didn’t see any concerted effort around enforcement. I know some of our community members advocated for enforcement and police presence down here and were met with varied success.”
But Ramey has still seen speeding in the area — ironically in the school and playground areas where photo enforcement is allowed.
“If we have the technology to take care of those sorts of things and really encourage people to pay attention when they’re driving these 4,000-lb. vehicles down the road, then we need to use all the tools that are available to us,” he said.
Bike Winnipeg Executive Director Marc Cohoe agrees.
“They [police] should have that freedom to go where they’re seeing problems, where they want to interdict and where they want to focus their prevention and their enforcement,” he said.
Cohoe adds speed enforcement results in safer roads for all users.
“Our goal needs to be zero fatalities and zero serious injuries on our streets. Whether you’re walking, biking, busing or driving, it shouldn’t be a matter of life and death to get where you’re going.”
Photo radar enforcement has been criticized as a “cash grab” for the Winnipeg Police Service. In 2019, the provincial PC government announced a review of the photo radar strategy, but that review never moved past the request for proposals stage.
Chambers admits he’s gotten photo radar tickets in the past and says, “If you aren’t speeding, you don’t have to worry about getting a ticket.”
Following a multi-year photo enforcement review, Alberta’s provincial government admitted several photo enforcement sites, nicknamed “fishing holes,” had no clear reason for enforcement, and were being enforced only as a way of collecting fines. The province announced last year it would remove enforcement in those locations.
In a statement, provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor said, “The province is engaged in positive, collaborative dialogue with the Winnipeg Police Service about their ongoing challenges with photo enforcement. Our government is ready to work collaboratively to determine the best route forward for this program.”