Brandon mayor pushing province to give all municipalities access to photo radar

The mayor of Brandon is pushing the province to give all Manitoba municipalities access to photo radar enforcement.

The city is bringing a resolution to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities fall meeting calling on the province to change the Highway Traffic Act so all municipalities have access to the technology, says Mayor Jeff Fawcett. 

The use of photo enforcement within the province is regulated by the Highway Traffic Act of Manitoba, which since 2002, has only allowed Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Police Service to use it.

"We just want the provincial government to say anyone outside the city of Winnipeg could look at this," said Fawcett, who is in Winnipeg this week at the annual AMM conference, where municipalities advocate for their communities. "All that matters to us is if it's something that we could actually consider for safety reasons."

Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6), who has been asking for photo radar in Brandon for several years, says it's not fair that only Winnipeg has it.

"We have to lobby the province to change the Highway Traffic Act and change the legislation," Luebke said. "That's the first step, the first hurdle in trying to get this … in Brandon or other municipalities."

Brandon's request for photo radar went on the record officially in 2021 when the city council passed a resolution asking the province to change the Highway Traffic Act to allow the City of Brandon and the Brandon Police Service to also use image enforcement, Luebke said.

In the end, nothing came of the request, Luebke said, but with a change in government last fall it felt like the right time to raise the issue again.

The city has already lowered some speed limits and installed speed-reducing infrastructure to slow drivers down, he said, but photo radar remains the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to traffic safety.

Strategic safety enforcement

Brandon police Chief Tyler Bates agrees.

"I don't think anybody, myself included, likes to be the recipient of a photo radar ticket in the mail when they're going … over the speed limit," Bates said. "It's certainly a means that has proven effective in slowing people down."

If photo radar is expanded to include Brandon, it could be strategically used in areas where drivers need to pump the brakes, he said. The city can look at areas with a lot of accidents or intersections with high pedestrian, cyclist and vehicle traffic where speed is an issue.

"We want to make sure … vehicles are travelling at a safe speed so that the roadway can be used and used safely by everybody, including our motorists," Bates said.

Luebke said the city can use statistics from Manitoba Public Insurance and Brandon police to figure out where photo radar would work best.

According to MPI data, 18th Street would top the list. The north-south artery in Brandon has seen more collisions from 2018 to 2022 than any other road in the city: Seven of its intersections are on the Top 10 list of collision-prone areas, including:

• Richmond Avenue, which saw 215 collisions.
• Victoria Avenue with 209 collisions.
• Park Avenue with 134 collisions.

That's a discussion for the future because the Highway Traffic Control Act needs to change first — something that now seems possible, Luebke said.

There is a greater appetite for video and pictures from the new provincial government based on funding for security cameras, RCMP body cameras and other initiatives, Luebke said, adding photo radar across the province needs to be the next step.

"It's everywhere right now, and it seems almost curious and funny that you can use it for all these purposes to help curb crime, but you're not going to allow us to use it for traffic safety," Luebke said.

"Video and photo technology is used in a lot of ways when it comes to enforcement on different things, so why not for traffic enforcement?"