It has been a busy construction season in Edmonton, and typically, people slow down to avoid a speeding ticket when driving through construction zones. But right now, there’s actually no photo radar enforcement at any site.
The city and the provincial government are still reviewing the practice of using automated traffic enforcement (ATE) and because of that, there have been no speeding tickets or city enforcement in construction zones in Edmonton this past year.
Not a single photo radar ticket has been handed out at a construction site in 2021.
In a statement to Global News, the City of Edmonton’s director of safe mobility, Jessica Lamarre, said: “In December of 2019, the government of Alberta initiated a moratorium on new photo radar locations and equipment to review objectives and outcomes of automated enforcement.
“Due to this moratorium, the city has not created enforcement sites in new construction zones, and as a result, we have seen a significant drop in the number of tickets issued in construction zones,” the city stated, noting that the Edmonton Police Service still “can and does enforce in these locations.”
Historically and before the pandemic, tens of thousands of photo radar tickets were given out in construction zones.
According to statistics provided by the City of Edmonton, in 2019 there were 19,972 total tickets in construction zones.
In 2018, there were 25,939 and in 2017, 29,878.
The year 2020 saw 1,935, simply because of carry over from projects already approved before the moratorium was in place.
Rob Williams, press secretary for the Alberta transportation minister, said in a statement: “The photo radar moratorium was intended to be in place until Nov. 30, 2021 or until the changes to the automated traffic enforcement (ATE) program could be made based on discussions with municipalities.
“Those talks are ongoing.”
Williams added that if there are concerns with speeding in construction zones, the city can work with the Edmonton Police Service to keep workers safe.
There are roughly 975 active street construction sites in Edmonton at this time.