City of Regina exploring expansion of red light camera program

Earlier this week, Regina city council voted to look at expanding its red light camera program.

The expansion could see drivers ticketed in the future for not fully stopping while turning right on a red light.

Currently, red light cameras in the city are installed at Dewdney Avenue and Lewvan Drive, Albert Street and Parliament Avenue, and Albert Street and Saskatchewan Drive.

Mayor Sandra Masters says the city’s job is to focus on safety and an expansion of the cameras’ use at those intersections will help solve those issues.

“There’s three red lights that have that camera on them. We get that data, the data goes to the Regina Police Service (and then) they review it and issue tickets on the basis of what they’re seeing,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing is cars not stopping on red lights,” she added. “What (drivers) are doing is peeling right on a red light and that can create a significant danger for a pedestrian or cars coming through an intersection whose sight lines are obscured.”

Masters mentioned city officials have seen data that suggests what the cameras are doing is working and making intersections safe.

“The red light cameras themselves have reduced collisions at those three intersections by 38 per cent,” she said. “It works. Part of our job is traffic safety, so we think if we could modify that behaviour, that would be a good thing.”

Masters wanted to reiterate that expanding the red light camera program isn’t about making money and that it’s in place to make roads safer for everyone.

According to the city, the program generates an average net fine amount of $129,000 per year. It annually costs an average of $316,000 for the contractor to operate and maintain the cameras and an average of $54,000 to fund a traffic safety clerk in RPS.

The program runs in an annually operational deficit with an average net cost of $240,000 per year from 2019.

While the program doesn’t make the city money, administration says it remains supportive of the program based on the decrease in crashes.