Roads, Highways & Infrastructure

[trtcttc]

I'm 100% in favour of the removal of photo radar in speed traps. Active enforcement I like, but paying some CPS "officer" to sit in a ford explorer while scrolling his instagram while generating revenue is just lazy and does nothing to increase safety. CPS should not be allowed to check their phones while on duty, pay attention and do your fucking job!!

Would you support fixed speed camera at high collision or high speeding locations? We don't need to pay for a CPS officer but would still get compliance.

 

[Mountain Man]

Would you support fixed speed camera at high collision or high speeding locations? We don't need to pay for a CPS officer but would still get compliance.

Yes, as long as it will catch red light runners too.

 

[FCC1982]

I consider the photo radar cars permanently parked at Memorial westbound just after the Mewata Bridge, or Airport Trail westbound just before the Deerfoot interchange to be "traps." In both cases, the roads are designed for much higher speeds than the posted limit. In the case of Airport Trail, CPS constantly parked a photo radar car on a downhill on a super-wide road where tourists leave the airport in rental cars and are adjusting to Calgary's roads and signage - not a population that is going to respond to deterrence-based enforcement by getting a ticket in the mail from their rental car company six weeks later.

These locations were obviously places where it was easy for CPS to rack up revenue in a road design environment that encouraged higher than posted speeds from a large proportion of drivers - 'tricks' to catch people. The response to those conditions should be narrower lanes and other design modifications to reduce the inclination to speed, or higher posted limits. Not to focus enforcement on those spots just because they collect higher fine revenue per camera hour.

I'd like to see pervasive deployment of automated photo radar, plus random mobile photo radar that is unpredictable. And a focus on road design changes to address areas where violations are common. Automated speed governors would also be great but it would take decades of sustained political will to make the transition in the whole vehicle fleet.

In reality we are going backwards in terms of enforcement. If local police had been less cynical in their use of photo radar across the province, maybe they could have incrementally increased camera deployment. But they reached too far into the cookie jar and got their hand slapped.

Yeah that speed trap on Airport Trail just before Deerfoot Trail always irks me:

“Welcome to Calgary - here’s a ticket”

 

[Mountain Man]

That's the thing, if the radar is in a location where there are a lot of accidents, then I'd be fine with it. Instead, they just find a place where the speed limit changes arbitrarily and tax people while whatever cop just sits in the car on their phone. CPS wants money, and they don't seem very concerned about safety, despite what they claim. This video does a pretty good job of pointing out how safety isn't really the priority.

 

[JesseLikesCities]

That's the thing, if the radar is in a location where there are a lot of accidents, then I'd be fine with it. Instead, they just find a place where the speed limit changes arbitrarily and tax people while whatever cop just sits in the car on their phone. CPS wants money, and they don't seem very concerned about safety, despite what they claim. This video does a pretty good job of pointing out how safety isn't really the priority.

I've lived in Tuscany for 13 years and only once have I seen a speed trap in a school zone, yet I see them multiple times a year on Crowchild around Crowfoot.

 

[MuzikMachine]

Anyone else noticing a massive increase in people running red lights lately? I swear I see 3 or 4 cars go through the intersection with a full red, even when cross traffic is fully green...

I haven't seen people going [straight] through the intersections per se, but I see a lot of drivers running reds for protected left turns.

 

[MuzikMachine]

In my community, I started seeing photo radar on a roadway bordering a school zone after 8 pm, in the middle of February, with temperatures below -20, and not even near to the playground equipment, enforcing the 30 km/h school/playground zone that technically goes until 9 pm. Between the time of day and season, there were no children using the playground equipment that was ~4 blocks away so the usual "public safety" argument was non-existent. This happened numerous times.