A Winnipeg city councillor is hoping to change how the city uses revenue from photo radar enforcement.
Coun. Matt Allard is putting forward a motion to a city committee that proposes to take photo radar enforcement revenue generated from school zones from the Winnipeg Police Service budget, and reallocate it to a new account designated for safety improvements and design changes in school zones, that would ideally eliminate the need for photo radar enforcement.
“I think there’s a lot of Winnipeggers who don’t have faith in the system as a safety measure,” Coun. Allard told 680 CJOB.
“I personally do think there’s merit to photo enforcement in school zones. I think it does change driver behaviour for many, but it doesn’t change driver behaviour for everybody and that’s what this motion is about.”
The motion states the photo radar enforcement program has been widely criticized as a revenue generator for the City of Winnipeg.
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“We need to reform (the program) because there’s a whole lot of people who think it’s just a cash grab,” Allard said. “It’s not just a cash grab, but we need to make it better.”
Allard also says high ticket volumes show that photo radar enforcement isn’t having its intended effect, and there are engineering changes that can be made that would reduce speeding through road design.
“If we’re getting a lot of photo enforcement in a particular location, I think it’s a clear sign that we need to make some road improvements, traffic improvements, we’ve got to do something there in order for this speeding to stop,” he said.
The motion will go before the Riel Community Committee on April 6. If passed, a report will be created outlining costs and options in time for the 2022 budget review process.
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