Photo radar contractor decides where most enforcement happens, Winnipeg police say
Expert says enforcement decisions need to be justifiable and in the interest of public safety
The Winnipeg Police Service says it lacks data to properly evaluate its photo speed-limit enforcement program, and confirms the company that operates the cameras is largely free to decide when and where to dispatch mobile units around the city.
That's led some to question the effectiveness of the program.
The contractor, Conduent Transportation (formerly known as ACS Public Sector Solutions), primarily decides where to focus a fleet of 10 mobile units, the head of the Winnipeg Police Service traffic division told CBC News.
"That is predominately at their discretion. If we know that we have some place that we want targeted or not targeted for any particular reason, we will direct them that way," said Insp. Gord Spado.
He says on occasion, the police service will step in and mandate a specific change, such as temporarily stopping enforcement in reduced-speed school zones during the COVID-19 pandemic, or enforcing limits in an inactive construction zone where speeding around pylons could present a safety hazard.
15 locations generate majority of tickets
CBC News analyzed nearly seven years of mobile enforcement tickets and found that each year, out of more than 900 locations legally eligible for enforcement, 15 locations repeatedly account for about 70 per cent of tickets.
This same data also suggests the mobile enforcement program — structured through legislation to promote pedestrian safety around schools, playgrounds and construction sites — has often focused on locations that don't necessarily have the worst safety track records.
Between 2015 and 2019, data provided by Manitoba Public Insurance shows there have been a total of 1,500 pedestrian collisions reported in Winnipeg.
Grant Avenue and Thurso Street, a 1.3-kilometre stretch that is the city's most enforced location, had seven reported pedestrian injuries in that five-year span.
MPI had no record of a pedestrian collision going back to 2015 along Provencher Boulevard, where a mobile unit had a presence on at least 268 days in 2018 alone.
At Logan Avenue and Blaine Street, where close to 3,000 tickets are issued annually, two pedestrian collisions were reported in the last five years. That location had enforcement on at least 292 days in 2018.
On average, about 25 individual locations see at least one ticket issued daily. About 300 locations see at least one ticket issued every year.
'Perceived conflict of interest': expert
An expert on data-driven photo enforcement strategies says evidence-based enforcement decisions are key to transparency.
That's especially true when the program operator is compensated on the basis of ticket volume, as is the case in Winnipeg, according to the minutes of the 2012 council vote to award the contract, says Karim El-Basyouny.
"It creates a perception where there is a perceived conflict of interest," said El-Basyouny, an assistant professor of urban traffic safety at the University of Alberta.
"Essentially, you're handing over the decision-making to a group that has a vested interest to issue violations, because that's basically how the revenues are generated."
El-Basyouny says research has clearly demonstrated photo enforcement works, but good data is needed to justify decisions and demonstrate results.
"What is the most objective measure of safety? It's collisions," he said.
Data on that, and on things like hours of enforcement or violations issued, can be measured, he says.
"This is standard practice. You should be able to … monitor that data over time and at the end of the day, link it back to the goals."
However, Insp. Spado says Winnipeg's program lacks most of those types of statistics, making it difficult to properly evaluate the program.
While program reporting focuses primarily on collision statistics at intersections and ticket volumes, Spado says weaknesses exist in those analyses.
Data on collisions, for example, may not indicate whether they were a result of the actions of the person caught on camera.
"So really, the mechanisms to measure just aren't there. [Manitoba Public Insurance] doesn't have them. We don't have them. There's no way to actually make a direct correlation."
Spado says under the current contract, he doesn't have access to key information such as when, where and for how long vehicles enforced at specific sites, making it impossible to accurately gauge whether infractions are truly declining in an area.
"That's something we'll be looking at for our future contracts," he said.
In the absence of better data, Spado says his key measure has been to look for reductions in ticket volumes. Aside from certain locations, and without accounting for increased traffic flows, ticket numbers have dropped by over 13 per cent in the past five years.
When CBC News asked Conduent Transportation what criteria it uses to determine its daily deployment strategy in Winnipeg, the company made no mention of collision history or pedestrian safety factors
"It is the general practice that all available and technically feasible sites are to be visited and enforced at some point in a year," director of external communications Neil Franz said in a written statement.
But if "there does not appear to be a significant problem in regards to vehicles driving above the speed limit, those locations would not likely be enforced as much," he said.
"In other words, speed enforcement is, in general, deployed in locations where there is evidence of excessive vehicle speeds."
Profits should go to city, not police: councillor
City Coun. Kevin Klein, who recently resigned as chair of the city's police board, says profits from the program should not flow back into the police service's general revenues.
If safety is really the issue, "I would prefer that 100 per cent of that money that we get … would be dedicated back to improving traffic safety in the city," he said.
Last year, after Manitoba Justice took its cut of the revenue from fines, the city took in $13.6 million. Of that, $4.7 million was paid to the contractor, with $8.1 million in profits flowing to police coffers.
A review of police budgets shows that since 2013, the operating budget for traffic enforcement has increased by 21 per cent. The budget for policing activities related to crime response increased by 29 per cent over the same period.
In Edmonton, responsibility for photo enforcement was removed from police and taken over by the city's office of traffic safety in 2013. Now, the city's share of the fine is devoted entirely to the police service's traffic division and a special reserve fund for city-led traffic safety initiatives.
Provincial laws impede program
Spado says some of the most dangerous driving behaviour he's seen has been in locations that legislation says are off-limits for mobile enforcement, because they aren't classified as school, playground or construction zones.
Those include locations along Bishop Grandin Boulevard and Chief Peguis Trail, where police have nabbed motorists at speeds in excess of 150 km/h.
In addition, MPI data suggests many of the most dangerous areas for pedestrians are actually found in legally unenforceable locations.
"The way we deploy, in all honesty, I would have to say, is not in the best interest of road safety in general, but it's the only way we can deploy because that's what the province has given us," said Spado.
The police service has not hidden the fact that it hopes the province will allow for greater enforcement flexibility down the road, something police say a majority of citizens support.
The Manitoba government, which issued a yet-to-be awarded request for proposals last February for a review of photo enforcement in the province, says it will revisit this file once the COVID-19 pandemic allows relatively normal activities to resume.
A similar review in Alberta recently concluded enforcement made a small contribution to traffic safety, but that the program was not being used in a way that maximized outcomes.
The eight-year photo enforcement contract expired on May 31, 2020, but the Winnipeg Police Service says it has been extended for another year, as it waits for the provincial government to complete its review of the program.
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