Saskatoon police chief defends photo radar

Saskatoon City Council has voted in favour of starting a photo radar pilot project.

One camera will be used at five different locations on Circle Drive this month. Another camera will be used to monitor speeds at five school zones across the city.

The location of the cameras will be clearly marked to motorists. While the cameras will move from location to location, they will be attached to light fixtures, instead of mobile structures like trailers or vans.

"There's no wondering if there's going to be photo radar there or not," said police chief Clive Weighill. "People will know that, on Circle Drive, if you speed, you're going to get a speeding ticket.

Weighill says Saskatchewan has a terrible record of traffic deaths and accidents, and hopes measures like this will change that.

"We absolutely have a problem in Saskatoon," he said. "Fatality rates in Saskatchewan are higher than any other province."

The chief dismisses claims that this is a 'cash grab' on the part of police.

"We have no targets financially for this," said Weighill. "The money that's been voted on by the city here is going to the traffic safety committee, so it's not going to general revenue. It's not going to the police service."

Weighill wants tickets from the program to be sent out in a timely manner. If they're not sent out after around two months, he says they will be cancelled.

"I mean, the idea of traffic enforcement, especially for speeding, is to correct the behaviour," he said. "So, if we can't correct the behaviour in a few months to get the ticket, we're not correcting that behaviour."

There will be a two-month warning period where speeders will be mailed warnings instead of tickets.