The first five months of the new speed-on-green camera system have already yielded better-than-expected results.
According to Chris Jardine, general manager of community and protective services, the number of cars caught speeding through key intersections in the city dropped from more than 200 per day during a pilot project in September 2008 to 54 a day as of Monday’s council meeting. As well, the speed of violators also dropped two kilometres per hour in the same time frame, to 17 km/h.
“On a macro level, we’ve noticed there’s been a reduction on speed,” said Jardine during his presentation to council. “The folks in engineering tell me that a reduction of two kilometres (per hour) is actually quite significant.”
When the city first planned to place the cameras around the city, administration said the city would make about $15,000 in 2009, once the expenditures were accounted for. However, Jardine reported that the city made $35,750 net profit in 2009, with half of the funds placed in a reserve to deal with other automated traffic enforcement technologies.
The report also showed accident rates at two intersections in St. Albert. The number of accidents at the intersection of St. Albert Trail and Hebert-Gervais Road decreased over the last 12 months from 4.5 collisions per month to 2.75.
Meanwhile, the intersection at St. Albert Trail and McKenney Avenue saw an increase in crashes over the same time period, up to 3.5 now, over 2.5 collisions per month 12 months ago.
“There are so many different factors that play into accidents,” Jardine said, adding that administration is working on an in-depth report about each accident for council to examine at a later date.
When questioned about how the reserve fund would be spent for traffic safety improvements, Jardine said his department would devise a plan, which may include the purchase of pedestrian countdowns and more cameras. Once the plan is completed, it would be taken to council for approval, adding that they hoped to have it ready by budget deliberations later this year.
