Drivers going through Cold Lake will soon have to be extra mindful of the rules of the road.
After being slightly delayed, preparation for the city's new photo enhanced traffic enforcement program is about 90 per cent complete. Starting May 23, for the period of a month, warning tickets will be issued to motorists who are captured on camera leading up to live enforcement on June 23.
“It takes a while to set everything up. The firm has to hire somebody, get them trained, and then we'll warn people where everything is. We're going to probably have it on the web – it'll be well documented where photo radar is,” said Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland.
The idea of bringing photo radar back to the city was first approached in November 2015. Following discussions, earlier this year council agreed to bring in the third-party provider Global Traffic Group Ltd. to operate the program until October 2018.
During their April 26 meeting, city council officially approved the final details of the initiative such as what areas within Cold Lake will targeted.
To start out, the photo radar services will focus on red lights, stop signs, and speed. Running for 40 hours per month, for at least the first three months the enforcement will divided into four zones of 10 hours each: school and playground zones, residential zones, red light zones, and stop sign zones.
“The list is quite substantial with some of the locations included coming from feedback from residents about where they think the speed challenges are throughout the community,” explained CAO Kevin Nagoya. “Council approved those as a whole package and administration will work with the week to week, month to month details and get the messages out there of where (the photo enforcement) is at specific times.”
School and playground initiatives will continue to be conducted during the mid-day and early evening prior to dusk. There are currently nine school zones within the school including near all of the elementary, middle and high schools, as well as Happy House Day Care and by Harvest Life Victory Church. All 17 of the city's playground zones will continue to be monitored by photo enforcement, as well as officers, including seven playground areas in the north, nine in the south and one in the Tri City area.
Taking into consideration the public's input on areas of concern, there will be 11 residential areas focused on. English Bay Road, 1st Ave. by Kinosoo Beach, the downtown core on 50th Ave., and Highway 28 will all have photo radar at some point.
“I can say that the thresholds that area going to be established are not unlike if an RCMP officer or community peace officer is out there doing their daily traffic enforcement, it's going to be very similar,” said Nagoya.
While tickets will be issued similarly to how an officer would, the program will work in conjunction with police and not take away from their role being out on the streets. Instead, it will allow RCMP and peace officers to focus their time on traffic stops that could lead to catching other offences such as drugs, alcohol and no insurance.
Last time the city brought in a photo radar program in 2010, revenue generated from tickets was approximately $30,000. Since they're using a third party company this time around, the money brought in will be split between Global Traffic Group and the City of Cold Lake.
“You hope you don't get any ticket revenue but I'm pretty sure we will,” said Copeland. “If you look at the crosswalk (across from city hall) that's solar, everybody's pretty happy with the quality of the crosswalk here. We're probably going to put a lot of our money into those kinds of safety enhancements in the various residential areas in Cold Lake.”
Council agreed it was imperative to make the photo radar enhancement zones publicly-known. A full list of where drivers will see the photo radar at some point is expected to be released on the city's website. Traffic Safety Act violation tickets will be issued from the program starting June 23.
