Drayton Valley town council has voted to scrap their Automated Traffic Enforcement program, or photo radar, by the end of April.
The decision was made Friday during a special town council meeting.
Council has directed administrators to provide a notice of termination to end the program “as soon as practical and in no case later than April 30.”
READ MORE: Photo radar voted down in Drayton Valley plebiscite
In February, the town took the decision to a plebiscite with 72 per cent of residents voting to ditch photo radar tickets for speeding and 75 per cent voting to end tickets for red-light violations.
At that time, Mayor Glenn McLean noted that a majority of residents did not vote in the plebiscite.
“It was a majority of those who voted, but of the total eligible voters, it was actually quite a minority,” he said.
Under the Municipal Government Act, ballot questions like this one are not binding. But the results were reviewed and council decided to scrap the program.
“What we were hoping for as a council was a clear message, and you could argue that there was a clear message with these results. It will be very helpful in making our decision,” McLean said in February.
Introduced just under two years ago, photo radar for both red light and stop sign violations and speeding infractions has generated much debate in the town, located 145 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
Between May 2015 and September 2016, nearly 12,000 tickets were issued for red light and speeding violations.
Up to August 2016, $231,000 in fines had been generated.
-with files from Michael Vecchio.
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