JULY 31, 1996
WHY PHOTO RADAR WILL BE A FAILURE

VANCOUVER -- While the government now recognizes the 85th percentile
as an international standard for setting speed limits, it refuses to
independently review and post speed limits using the 85th percentile,
and then tries to confuse the issue by saying that only drivers
travelling above the 85th percentile will be targeted (maybe!)

Photo radar will fail because the government, in its zeal to collect
ticket fine revenue, has failed to implement consistent reasonable
speed limits acceptable to the majority of drivers.  Furthermore,
having failed in its attempt to convince us that 'speed-is-killing-us',
the entire photo radar program now rests on the 'what-if' scenario -
what-if something occurs and the driver must suddenly stop, less damage
will be done if the driver is only going slower.  While the argument
seems logical, its does not address accident causation.

Driver behaviour studies indicate that any reduction in average speeds
will be temporary for two reasons:

  1)  Drivers intuitively drive at the 'geometric' speed of the road
  and while doing so, take into consideration the various factors and
  conditions present.  Enforcement only produces a temporary 'halo'
  effect.

  2)  Drivers, who have been repeatedly told to slow down for the
  'what-if' crashes they are told they will have, will increase speeds
  as those accidents do not occur to them with any frequency.

  SENSE predicts that the photo radar program will result in one or more
  of the following outcomes:

      1)  If the projected number of tickets are issued, close to one
      in three drivers in BC will receive at least one photo radar
      ticket each year.  Since British Columbians have been told
      repeatedly that photo radar will only target the high-risk
      excessive speeder, the public will come to distrust all traffic
      enforcement and ultimately perceive police as tax collectors.

      2)  Our government refuses to independently review speed limits
      and will target from the 85th percentile -- this means that at any
      time, 15% of BC drivers are targeted for enforcement.  (SENSE has
      reviewed published BC results showing 30% of drivers classed as
      violators, directly contradicting government statements that the
      85th percentile will be applied.)

      SENSE predicts that public pressure will ultimately force the
      government to properly review speed limits using qualified,
      independent traffic engineers and applying the international
      standards of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

      Victoria, Australia, sets its speed limits at the 85th percentile,
      applies an enforcement tolerance of 10 km/h, which currently
      results in 2.9% of drivers being targeted for photo radar
      enforcement.

      In many other jurisdictions using photo radar, a comprehensive
      review of speed limits has been undertaken.  In Victoria,
      Australia, speed limits are objectively set using software called
      VLIMITS.  "In the vast majority of cases, the program recommends a
      speed limit within 5 km/h of the 85th percentile." (FHWA Study
      Tour for Speed Management and Enforcement Technology)

      The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), unlike the British
      Columbia Automobile Association, endorses the setting of speed
      limits in Canada at the 85th percentile.

      3)  SENSE predicts that public pressure will force our government
      to abandon the entire program as road users quickly learn that
      photo radar enforcement does not address the underlying problems
      of our roads.  Road safety consists of the three 'E's: Education,
      Enforcement, and Engineering.  BC's Traffic Safety Initiative is
      fundamentally enforcement based.  Only when education and
      engineering are suitably considered will substantial positive
      change occur.  The program in its present form is a negative,
      simplistic solution to a complex issue.

SENSE has stated from its inception in April 1995, that speed limits
should be based upon the 85th percentile (and rounded to the nearest
5 km/h or 10 km/h increment).  While our government refused to
acknowledge the function and validity of the 85th percentile, it has
now done an about-face and admits its use in setting speed limits.
However, the government has not properly adopted this method, and is
attempting to confuse the media by using the 85th percentile in its
enforcement tolerances.  This is not the same as setting the speed limits
at the 85th percentile and allowing a tolerance above that baseline.

(FYI - studies have shown that the lowest crash risk is for drivers
travelling at the 90th percentile.)