Regina city council has voted to expand the existing red light camera safety (RLCS) program to include “speed on green” speeding tickets and “rolling right turns.”.A review of the RLCS program showed three different areas to increase “public safety” but the council is only considering the “speed on green” and “rolling right turns.”.According to the report, the first area to increase enforcement is “rolling right turns” on a red light because vehicles hit 37 people in the last five years, with a “high proportion of violations for rolling right turning on red.”.“Further, the high violation rate of this movement, combined with anecdotal accounts of pedestrian near misses from Regina residents, indicate that this behaviour needs to be addressed with Regina drivers,” said the report..Regina could collect around $120,000 in fines if implemented and does not need the province’s approval as Saskatoon already tickets drivers for “rolling right turns.”.There will be a “reasonable threshold” for the “rolling” as drivers will not have to come to a complete stop, just “close to a complete stop.”.The second area to increase enforcement is drivers who speed up to get through a green light before it turns red. .According to the report, the red light cameras at Albert Street and Parliament Avenue intersection caught 43,944 speeding violations between 50 and 60 km/h in a 50 km/hr zone in October 2021..At the same intersection, it caught 2,958 driving between 60 and 70 km/h and 156 between 70 and 80 km/h..“While red light cameras generally reduce instances of red light running, there are a contingent of drivers who use available cues, such as pedestrian countdown timers or advanced warning flashers to, rather than stopping as required, rapidly increase their speed through signalized to avoid the red light ticket,” said the report..“This behaviour, while not ubiquitous, is extremely dangerous, particularly in densely populated areas with pedestrians on adjacent sidewalks who are often in the collision path.”.The council needs the province’s approval and changes to the Traffic Act before it can issue fines for “speed on green” offenders..The existing RLCS software can be modified to issue tickets for the two new violations and the council is considering adding more red light cameras around the city, which it is consulting with the Regina Police Service and Saskatchewan Government Insurance..The only councillor to vote against the additional traffic offences was Ward Nine Coun. Jason Mancinelli..Mancinelli does not believe the fines will change driver behaviours and it is unpopular with Regina residents..“I know it’s very unpopular because it doesn’t change behaviour,” said Mancinelli..“I don’t think it will have the necessary effect on the behaviour that we want.”.Currently, there are three red light cameras in Regina.
