Speed cameras coming to these eight intersections around Metro Vancouver
Credit to Author: Dan Fumano| Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2020 16:34:49 +0000
Newly released figures show that as more speed cameras were activated around the province last year, the number of automatically issued speeding tickets in B.C. dramatically increased.
In 2018, the B.C. government announced they would upgrade red-light cameras at 35 of the province’s most dangerous intersections, to enable the cameras to bust speeders. The first five of those speed cameras were activated last summer, and as more cameras were activated over the year, the number of speeding tickets issued more than tripled between the third and fourth quarter of 2019, new statistics show.
The B.C. government will activate additional speed cameras around the province over the next two months, starting with eight Metro Vancouver intersections on Feb. 24.
For the three-month period from July to September 2019, 2,370 speeding tickets were issued at the first five B.C. intersections where speed cameras had been activated. Then, for the three-month period ending last December, by which time 15 speed cameras had been activated, the number of speeding tickets issued shot to 7,353. (For comparison, police throughout B.C. issued a monthly average of 16,414 speed-related violation tickets in 2018, the most recent year for which data was available).
Fines for speeding in B.C. range from $138 to $483, depending on the location and speed. Running a red light is a $167 fine.
In an emailed statement, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Monday that six months after the first speed cameras were activated “it’s too soon to estimate how quickly people will get the message and slow down. What I can say is that we have prominent warning signs at each of these intersections, and people who do get a ticket should take notice and change their behaviour.”
“Certainly, that’s been the experience in other jurisdictions with this technology, and from a public safety standpoint, we hope to see similar results at these historically high-risk intersections,” Farnworth said.
A 2017 Ernst & Young report into financial problems at ICBC, commissioned by the previous government, recommended increasing the red-light cameras and adding speed cameras, a move that the report estimated could generate as much as $89 million for ICBC.
The province plans to have all 35 speed cameras activated by the end of March, starting with the following eight Metro intersections, which will be activated Feb. 24:
• Coquitlam: Barnet Highway at Mariner Way.
• Delta: Nordel Way at 84th Avenue.
• Port Coquitlam: Lougheed Highway at Shaughnessy Street.
• Langley: 200th Street at 64th Avenue.
• Surrey: 64th Avenue at 152nd Street.
• Surrey: 128th Street at 88th Avenue.
• Surrey: King George Boulevard at 104th Avenue.
• Surrey: 152nd Street at 96th Avenue.
A full map is available on the B.C. government website, showing all 35 intersections with speed cameras as well as all 140 high-risk intersections equipped with red-light cameras.
—With files from Rob Shaw and Jennifer Saltman