May 10, 1999
PHOTO RADAR: MASSIVE FINANCIAL FAILURE, BC FATALITY RATE WORST IN CANADA...
YET MORE VANS ON ORDER!

VANCOUVER - The Integrated Traffic Camera Unit, BC's photo radar police, 
announced last week that the photo radar program will be expanding with the 
addition of 10 more vans to the current fleet of 30. This comes on the heels of 
Transport Canada figures that show BC as the province to have the worst increase 
in motor vehicle fatalities (+5.4%) despite a significant Canada-wide drop 
(-12%).

The expansion is planned in spite of massive fiscal mismanagement in program 
development and ongoing high operating costs. The initial photo radar program 
was projected to cost $9 million, but costs ballooned more than 300% to well 
over $30 million. Annual operating costs are well over $12 million. Costs to 
vehicle owners, often driving safely or not driving at all... are not considered 
in government figures.

The Legislature was told on May 6 that the 30 photo radar vans, utilizing 83 
police officers, are issuing only 18,000 tickets per month.  This equals 217 
tickets per officer per month -- far below claims that each photo radar van was 
as effective as 5 to 19 officers, and undoubtedly no better than an officer 
operating a $1,600 radar gun. As the tickets are not legally binding until 
acknowledged or served personally to vehicle owners, many are choosing to simply 
not pay, further eroding any cost effectiveness or deterrence. In another change 
that clearly shows that photo radar is a revenue generation tool, ICBC will now 
pick up all costs while all fines flow to general revenue.

The BC Liberals have stated that photo radar "should be put out of its misery", 
and leader Campbell recently confirmed that they will cancel the program if 
elected.

The fatality rate on BC roads had been dropping prior to 1997, the first full 
year of photo radar, with drops as high as 32% (1981) and 18.2% (1991). In early 
1998, Andrew Petter the minister responsible for ICBC, announced with much 
fanfare that 1997 had produced a 7% drop in fatalities. Rather unremarkable when 
considering a mild 1997 winter (the mildest in 45 years) and an earlier drop of 
7.3% in 1995 -- with no photo radar! Even more disturbing is the fact that the 
first 9 months of 1998 have produced a fatality increase of 5.4% -- the worst 
province in Canada. This fatality increase has occurred at a time when BC is in 
a recession (motor vehicle crashes are known to drop during reduced economic 
activity).

SENSE executive director Ian Tootill declared Sunday "the NDP and ICBC have once 
again proven a reckless disregard for fiscal prudence, an unwillingness to base 
traffic enforcement on safety results, all while ignoring the value of rigorous 
driver training and the review and correct setting of all speed limits. 
Certainly the overhead costs alone fail to justify photo radar's continuance 
versus conventional enforcement."

Sources:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/Stats/cl9901/eng/983tot_e.htm (1998 preliminary 
fatality rates)

http://www.sense.bc.ca/research.htm (BC and Canadian historical fatality rate 
charts)