Calgary installs 10 new redlight cameras

[kenny]

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CITYBEAT - CITY OF CALGARY PRESS RELEASE
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CALGARY POLICE SERVICE NEWS RELEASE

In its continuing effort to address the needs of the
community, promote safe driving practices and reduce injuries
and deaths caused by drivers running red lights, the Calgary
Police Service Traffic Section is expanding the Red Light
Camera Program.

Construction is currently underway and near completion at 10
new fixed red light camera-ready intersections, which will be
operational by the end of next week at the following
locations:

• 17th Avenue and 1st Street S.E.
• MacLeod Trail and 7th Avenue S.E.
• Southland Drive and Fairmont Drive S.E.
• Southland Drive and Acadia Drive S.E.
• Canyon Meadows Drive and Bow Bottom Trail S.E.
• Elbow Drive and Southland Drive S.W.
• Beddington Blvd. and Centre Street N.
• 64th Avenue and Falconridge Blvd. N.E.
• Memorial Drive and 52nd Street N.E.
• Memorial Drive and 28th Street N.E.

With the addition of these 10 new locations, there will be a
total of 24 cameras rotating through 30 intersections. There
are presently 24 cameras (four spare) at 20 intersections in
all four quadrants of the city. By the end of 2003, six more
camera-ready locations will be added, allowing 24 cameras to
rotate through 36 intersections.

Red light cameras were first introduced in Calgary in March
2001. Traffic collisions at the first seven intersections
equipped with red light cameras were reduced from 57 to 35: a
39 per cent reduction. By the end of 2005, there will be 24
red light cameras rotating through a total of 84
intersections throughout the city.

The Calgary Police Service continues to work in partnership
with the City of Calgary to ensure that the Red Light Camera
program addresses the needs of the community and assists in
the creation of a safe driving environment. City traffic
engineers choose locations for the cameras based on points
assigned for factors such as severity of collisions, number
of fatalities, injuries, frequency of red light violations
and traffic volumes.

Fixed red light cameras are triggered by sensors in the road
which are connected to the traffic signals. The cameras
photograph only those vehicles entering the intersection
after the light turns red. The cameras are synchronized to
the traffic signal so the camera is activated only when the
light starts its red phase. The camera takes two photographs:
one just as the vehicle enters the intersection and a second
one as the vehicle proceeds through the intersection. Each
set of photographs is reviewed and verified to ensure an
offence has occurred prior to the issuing of a ticket.

The fine for running a red light is $287, regardless of the
enforcement technology used. However, three demerit points
are issued if a motorist is stopped by a police officer (no
demerits for red light camera issued violations).

RELEASED BY PUBLIC AFFAIRS/MEDIA RELATIONS UNIT FOR S/SGT. C.
DE SANTIS

[Fluidic]

Good. Red light runners are evil people! <--- just had to use this smiley...

Peter

[Khyron]

Ok I was totally opposed to them until I found out they go off even if a guy drives though 20 seconds later. (I thought they just took a pic 1 second after the yellow changed, to catch the yellow runners).

Catching people who run <1 sec after light red = bad, catching people who blow them without looking = good.

Khyron

[dam_guy]

i have no concerns... i don't speed or run red lights.
but if it'll help prevent accidents and idiots disobeying traffic laws, it gets a from me

[RMKS13]

I think this is kind of a controversial issue. What if people know there's a redlight camera, and have enough time to make a yellow, but decide to stop abruptly anyways? Someone could plow into them from behind.

I'd say the best combination would be to also have the 2 amber flashers warning that the stale green is going to go yellow, so people can judge how much time they have to stop better. Then, people caught on the red-light camera have no excuses, and there should be less possible accidents.

J

[James]

I dont have a problem with them IF they are at intersections with the flashing yellow warning signs that are like 100 metres before the intersection. Plain and simple,If you see those flashing, then you have enough time to stop......the only stupid ones are downtown, just cash cows in my mind.

[RMKS13]

Originally posted by James
I dont have a problem with them IF they are at intersections with the flashing yellow warning signs that are like 100 metres before the intersection. Plain and simple,If you see those flashing, then you have enough time to stop......

Yeah, those are the things I meant

[Ben]

People are accustomed to most people running a yellow...and if someone brakes hard to not run a yellow...BOOM, witnessed 2 accidents because of this already.

[Seanith]

Originally posted by RMKS13
[B

I'd say the best combination would be to also have the 2 amber flashers warning that the stale green is going to go yellow, so people can judge how much time they have to stop better. Then, people caught on the red-light camera have no excuses, and there should be less possible accidents.

J [/B]

Brilliant. I can never tell how "stale" the greens are, and that would be a great idea. BTW i saw those bastards setting up the camera at canyon meadows dr. and bowbottom and i wasn't impressed at all

[sml]

Originally posted by RMKS13

I'd say the best combination would be to also have the 2 amber flashers warning that the stale green is going to go yellow, so people can judge how much time they have to stop better. Then, people caught on the red-light camera have no excuses, and there should be less possible accidents.

J

I think they have those in TO or van... can't remember... but if you've got lots of time, then it's solid green, when there's like 10 secs to yellow, then it blinks green... then yellow, then red...

[wontonjohnny]

why are all the lights in the NE and SE????

we are poor up here ... hahah

[fast95pony]

...As long as the gravel truck barrelling along two feet behind me knows about them too....

[K271]

good, I'm glad, any thing that can help stop idiot drivers, I'm down for.

[Maxt]

I think its no secret where I stand on this...
But..
I really think cell phones should be banned while driving, I use one as much as the next guy, in fact in 6 weeks I had over 80 hours of call time on my last phone, they are a major distraction to driving, and I think red light camera's are really a limpwristed way of cashing in on the cell phone distraction..
If you think camera's and a fine in the mail are a panacea for distracted drivers, you are dreaming in technicolor..
Its not idiot drivers, its people with to much on their minds, in my whole 15 years of being licenced I think I have only seen one person "deliberately" blow a red for impatiency, the drivers that I have seen blow reds most often are people on cell phones, and that includes a cop on Mcleod and 42nd ave that drove right through a red light while on the phone, when a car that almost tagged him honked the horn and "woke" him up, he panicked and nailed the brakes, then flicked on the lights and tried to make it like it was deliberate and required ... If you can daydream through a red one day, and then you get a ticket for almost 300 bucks, sure you will be on your toes for a couple of days, but the pain wheres off quickly, especially when you get the ticket two weeks later, and you don't remember the offence, get stopped by a cop for ticket though and that tends to stick longer, especially through insurance renewal time..
You can be damned sure that press release was conjoured up to provide feel good emotions about it, notice it doesn't say what kind of REPORTED traffic collisions were reduced, also it doesn't say what other changes were made in addition to, and remember this folks, it was written by "RELEASED BY PUBLIC AFFAIRS/MEDIA RELATIONS UNIT FOR S/SGT. C.
DE SANTIS", which means an ad agency wrote the article to sell the program, not to provide the facts to us, I am quite sure S/SGT C.DEsantis could have done that himself, be aware of anything the government has to "sell" to the public, like gun registries, language laws,CD taxes, yada yada yada....
Notice as well, nothing about yellow light timing, next time you go through one of theses monitored intersections, count the yellow time, its shorter than other intersections, a good comparison is anderson and elbow compare to acadia and anderson, same size intersection, yellow is longer at elbow and anderson..
Here's another example to play, On southbound sarcee, leave 17th ave sw intersection, drive exactly 80 km/hr, you will find that the next intersection at richmond rd which is red light monitored, will flash the prepare to stop ahead yellows exactly as you pass underneath the warning sign and then you will hit the intersection on a very stale yellow/red, now given that no ones speedometer is gonna read the same as mine, but I would say that, the light timing on that stretch of road is setup to make people hit that intersection towards a yelllow/red stop go judgement call, they probably call it something catchy like "public traffic training interval timing", I call it screwing the public....Maxt

[rice_eater]

the phone in the car CAN be dangerous...i use it a lot myself and lately i haven't had any close calls...but about a year ago when i wasn't so used to it i did find myself running a couple reds without knowing, turning into wrong lanes and almost causing accidents...hell i even got a photoradar speeding through a place where i know as a fact that there are ALWAYS cops...it really is a distractor that's for sure!

[Abom]

Originally posted by Ben
People are accustomed to most people running a yellow...and if someone brakes hard to not run a yellow...BOOM, witnessed 2 accidents because of this already.

This is why Calgary has the WORST drivers in the country. Yellow lights are not meant to be blown.

[Akagi Redsuns]

Originally posted by Abom



This is why Calgary has the WORST drivers in the country. Yellow lights are not meant to be blown.

What makes Calgary really bad is that most drivers do not know the rules of the road, plain and simple. Be it Stop signs, to merging correctly, to even keeping within the same lane during a left turn. It's unreal what I have seen people do here. It seems that the act of driving seems to be secondary. Adjusting the radio, having a bite to eat, drinking coffee, reading, talking to passengers, talking on the cellphone...etc, seems to be primary actions of drivers instead of actually driving and observing what's going on around them. Add this to the pathetic knowlegde base of the average driver and voila........fun fun fun on the streets of Calgary. So frustrating to drive anywhere.....so easy to rage.

[jdmakkord]

Originally posted by Abom



This is why Calgary has the WORST drivers in the country. Yellow lights are not meant to be blown.

Drive in toronto for a week and then see who has worse drivers!

[HOK]

Originally posted by jdmakkord


Drive in toronto for a week and then see who has worse drivers!

I TOTALLY agree with this statement...

[roopi]

Remember to come to a full stop when making right hand turns at these lights as well. Wait at least five seconds before you make your turn!!! I got one of these fuckers in the mail last week as well for almost $300!!!


Take a look at this article in Edmonton:


Seeing red over stoplight tickets
Police frustrated by deaths, drivers irate over $287 tickets

Ryan Cormier
The Edmonton Journal
Friday, August 15, 2003

EDMONTON - Carlo Cabral has a rolling start on what may be a rather dubious record -- for getting the most traffic tickets in a single month.

In his mailbox, Cabral has found eight tickets for making rolling right turns at red lights in the past month. That's $2,296 worth of fines at the same spot.

Cabral owns a transmission shop near the intersection of Whyte Avenue and 75th Street, which has a red-light camera.

The Edmonton Police Service has a campaign underway to remind drivers to make full stops before turning right at red lights.

Drivers who choose the "rolling stop" option may, like Cabral, get $287 tickets in the mail.

"We've had a major problem with people running red lights, and hopefully this is going to get the message across that this has to stop," says Sgt. Barb Clover.

Two people have been killed in the past two years as a result of people rolling through right turns.

"One is too many," says Staff Sgt. Tom Bell. "Two is unreasonable. We just can't get the message out enough."

The message is being reinforced by red-light cameras that clock a vehicle's speed between two points just before stop lines at intersections. If the speed is 24 km/h or more, the police say it is impossible for a car to fully stop in time.

When the 24 km/h barrier is broken, the camera flashes and takes a picture of the offending vehicle and a ticket is issued through the mail. The tickets carry no demerit points on drivers licences.

The cameras are being rotated through 48 high-collision intersections in Edmonton, but at any given time only 20 are in operation. The others will flash, but won't take pictures.

While Edmonton police say the speed threshold system is based on simple physics, Cabral and some other ticketed drivers say it's unfair.

Cabral says the ticketing system is flawed because it's based on speed, rather than whether a vehicle actually stops.

"Because I was going 24 km/h, so they say, it's physically impossible to stop. I beg to differ," Cabral says. "I stopped. I didn't do anything wrong."

Ann Yee lives and works near the same intersection. She was hit with three tickets in a 12-day span in July.

"I can't afford to pay for this," she says. "I could pay for one, but I can't afford to pay for three."

Yee now makes sure she comes to a complete stop. She objects to the tickets because, she says, her offending turns were into empty lanes due to an advance green for crossing traffic, which she says isn't dangerous whether or not she stops.

The cameras will not catch vehicles that roll through a turn slower than 24 km/h.

"I had to set the threshold speed somewhere," Bell says.

If he set the threshold too low, he says he would be giving out too many tickets.

He likens it to fining people for driving one kilometre per hour over the speed limit.

The police say this renewed enforcement of an old law is for the protection of both drivers and pedestrians.

Regardless of the intent, the police are being hit with a barrage of complaints.

Ticketed drivers are complaining "all the time," says Clover. "People say 'I'm slowing down, what's the difference?' But there is a difference if it's your mom that gets hit by somebody."