MARCH 4, 1996
FIRST PHOTO RADAR LIE EXPOSED!

As predicted by SENSE in June 1995, the Provincial Government has failed
to review and properly set speed limits prior to the introduction of
photo radar.  Today marks the first day that photo radar appears on B.C.
roads, and as expected, no independent reviews of speed limits have
occurred.

According to a June 15, 1995, position statement from the British
Columbia Automobile Association, a vocal proponent of photo radar, then
Minister of Transportation and Highways, Jackie Pement, gave assurances
that speed limits would be independently reviewed prior to the
introduction of photo radar cameras.

SENSE has been informed that speed limit reviews will be performed
concurrently using the photo radar vans, and that enforcement
tolerances will be set using the collected data.

As a result of ICBC's multi-million dollar 'Speed Is Killing Us'
advertising campaign, many B.C. drivers are now aware of the current
threat of photo radar vans.  Further, many drivers logically slow their
travel speed down in response to a vehicle parked on the shoulder of the
roadway.

Internationally respected traffic engineer Martin R. Parker Jr., who
researches on the safety and setting of speed limits, tells SENSE that
attempts to measure free-flow traffic speeds using the vans will
understate the true safe traffic speed, the 85th percentile, rendering
the measurements meaningless.

Of the projected $90 to $160 million in tickets for the twelve months,
SENSE expects the majority will be issued to unsuspecting drivers
traveling at safe and reasonable speeds.

SENSE has been actively seeking a review of speed limits prior to the
introduction of cameras using the undetectable methods typically
employed by traffic engineers.  The direction of the government and
ICBC persuades us that their true intent is to generate traffic-fine
revenue, and in the future, penalty-point-premium revenue for ICBC.

SENSE co-founder Ian Tootill said today, "This is a large, expensive
bureaucracy that has enormous potential for misuse.  As we have said
from day one, any time you give bureaucrats this kind of power, it will
be abused.  We are only seeing shades of the things to come."

Contact SENSE directors at the below numbers for additional information,
research sources, or to provide context to statements made by ICBC, the
government, and other photo radar promoters.