There’s now 44 intersections with red-light cameras in our city, buoyed by $3.5 million in tickets from last year.
Next camera up will be at TransCanada and Deerfoot, northbound. After that, it’s Bowfort and the TransCanada near COP. The province is proposing even more support, proposing that multiple tickets for speeding and running a red can be issued.
Ouch. Those cameras creep me out.
Yet, there’s good evidence red-light cameras are needed. Half of collisions in Calgary occur at intersections.
We worry about speed. According to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation in Ottawa, Canadians say that, after drunk driving, running red lights is the greatest traffic concern followed by street racing and speeding.
Currently, intersection cameras catch both running a red light, and regular speeding through a green light.
Cameras were instituted eight years ago, and there’s evidence that the red light campaign is reducing collisions, both T-bone and rear end.
The Calgary police won’t say, though, what it takes to get a speeding ticket. The law allows the force to ticket at just one kilometre over.
But the city needs low-tech options, too. It’s not sexy or spylike, but reduce residential speed limits. Our 50-kilometre limit for residential roads is too high.
Some cities, such as Ottawa and Montreal, are considering 40 km/h for safety reasons.
Hit at 50 km/h, a person has an 80 per cent chance of dying. At 40 km/h, it’s 25 per cent.
Last year, Safe Kids Canada spent a week campaign advocating for 40-km zones. The number 1 killer of kids is cars. Safe Kids didn’t get far.
Studies show even if we think speeding is a problem few want to slow down.
But Calgary can reduce speed limits. There are two 40-km zones in the city, on Elbow Drive and at 6th Avenue in Kensington. That took power and pull.
It’s a tough gig. I tried introducing the 40-km idea at my community traffic study. The city representative deflected it at every meeting despite my alderman’s suggestions to discuss the issue there.
In the end, the city bureaucrat gave me a nine-year old report by then police chief Christine Silverberg saying 40-km zones weren’t enforceable.
Yet, we know speed kills, and scares kids from the outdoors into basements with video games. With the same passion it uses to advocate for intersection cameras, the Calgary police should advocate for 40 km/h for residential roads. Ticketing shouldn’t allow for speed to creep upwards.
As the red-light campaign has taught us, where there’s a will there’s a way. Forty can be sexy. And safe.
– Janice Paskey teaches journalism at Mount Royal College, serves on her community association board and is a proud mom to two boys; calgaryletters@metronews.ca.
