A Vancouver city councillor wants to see more automated speed and red light cameras deployed in the city in a bid to reduce road injuries and deaths.
OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle says she plans to file a motion at an upcoming council meeting asking the province to deploy 107 new cameras at the city’s most dangerous intersections.
“The stats tell a really alarming story, last year there were more than 7,300 accidents across Vancouver involving a motor vehicle that resulted in injury and hospitalization and 18 fatalities, that’s about 22 a day,” Boyle said.
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“Its a significant barrier and its one I hear about from residents all the time who are nervous getting from point A to point B.”
Boyle wants to see the cameras deployed at every intersection in the city that has seen 100-plus crashes involving injury or fatality in the last four years.
She wants cameras at intersections near schools that have seen 50 such crashes.
The vast majority of the proposed cameras would be installed on the city’s east side.
“Fifty per cent of injuries and fatalities are pedestrians and cyclists, 45 per cent of injuries from pedestrians are senior citizens,” she said.
“These are risks that are impacting our residents, and speed enforcement cameras in study after study are effective, they are low cost to implement and they make a big difference in the safety of our city.”
Boyle said she would want to see any additional revenue generated by the cameras go to funding road safety infrastructure upgrades.
To succeed, Boyle’s motion would need the support of the ABC Vancouver council majority. She said the proposal would be a good test of ABC and Mayor Ken Sim’s commitment to public safety.
Vancouver is currently home to 43 traffic cameras, which generate more than $8 million in fines annually.