Mayoral candidate Ouellette announces plan to review photo enforcement program

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This article was published 02/09/2022 (747 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayoral candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette announced his plan to review the city’s photo enforcement program at a press conference Saturday.

“Since its inception, the City of Winnipeg’s photo enforcement program has seen a steady increase in tickets issued and fines collected,” Ouellette said. “The team has heard that many citizens want council to conduct a full review of the city’s photo enforcement program.”

If elected, Ouellette said he plans to implement two changes to Winnipeg’s traffic enforcement system: give first-ticket warnings and construction zone speed limits.

In the case of the former, a ticket for the traffic violation would be issued, but with a waived fine for the first offence.

“It’s not fair to a single mother who’s trying to drop her children off at school, who might be a little pressed, but inadvertently maybe was going a little bit over the speed limit,” Ouellette said. “It may be appropriate for her not to receive a ticket in the mail at the time of the month when she needs to pay for other things.”

The proposed construction zone speed limits will bring enhanced signing and be more reflective of the type of construction and when workers are on the job, he said.

The annoucement comes after Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth expressed concerns about the city’s dated photo radar technologies in a Free Press article published Friday.

Smyth explained that current legislation written in the 2002 Image Capturing Enforcement Regulation, part of the Highway Traffic Act prevents the city from using new technology.

“If it stays status quo, the equipment is going to deteriorate to the point we won’t be able to use the program at all,” Smyth said in an interview with the Free Press.

When asked if he would work with the province to update the photo radar system, Ouellette said he would consider improving it while also looking at alternatives to photo radar.

“Obviously technology has changed as well, and so it’s important to make sure that we keep up to date,” he said.

Ouellette believes Winnipeg’s current traffic ticketing system focuses too much on increasing revenue, rather than keeping drivers, pedestrians and cyclists safe on the road. A review would help the city assess what is actually making the roads safer, rather than what is generating the most money through fines, he said.

“The city’s goal should be maximum safety, not maximum fines.”

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca