Photo radar boxes becoming a political issue
Regina man irritated after learning cities will get smaller cut of revenue
It’s funny how life’s irritants quickly become political when you begin to find the government irritating.
Take the Regina guy who is fuming after feeling the invisible pinch of a photo radar box in a school zone in Regina — one of three communities along with Moose Jaw and Saskatoon that hosted the photo radar pilot project that will now be converted into permanent fixtures.
Clocked at 52 km/ h in a 40 km/ h school zone at 9 p.m., the guy admits he was speeding, and thus deserved of the $282 ticket.
But what most irritated the guy was finding out last week that communities outside the cities don’t have these soulless little photo radar boxes some see as nothing more than ATMS for the government ... and then finding out the cities will now be getting a smaller cut of the revenue they generate.
Under the pilot project, a quarter of total ticket revenue automatically went to the province’s general revenue fund, but the remaining 75 per cent remained in the community (minus the cost to SGI of administering the radar boxes, sending out the tickets, etc.). At least you could take some solace in your fine staying in your community.
However, now that the photo radar program has become permanent, the province has arbitrarily decided it will still take its 25 per cent off the top, but only half of the remaining 75 per cent (again, minus necessary administration costs) will stay in the cities where the ticket was issued. The rest will go into the provincial traffic safety fund where any community can apply for funding. This has annoyed the mayors of Regina and Saskatoon ... and maybe a few other average guys.
“Could this government be worried about the backlash they would get if they were installed in cities like Swift Current, Yorkton, Weyburn, or (SGI Minister) Joe Hargrave’s Prince Albert?” the guy asked in an email. “I guess the point I’m trying to make is that if money is going for provincial general revenue, provincial traffic safety, and if photo radar works so well for public safety, they need to be installed provincially. It needs to be the same safety for everyone and the same cost for everyone. If you don’t, it’s just more hypocrisy, politics, and another tax grab for this government.”
Perhaps we need to pump the brakes a bit here — sage advice our friend and a lot of us could use.
There remains a solid argument from SGI and the justice ministry that photo radar is an effective tool. The pilot project locations were thoughtfully selected because of the risks and traffic volume. If this were pure politics, would the Sask. Party stick them in Moose Jaw where it’s trying to hold the seats?
Moreover, photo radar has always been unpopular everywhere.
Maybe people have a right to fume over the lack of human discretion from the boxes. But when the local constabulary physically holds radar guns, some people then complain they should be going after “real criminals” rather than filling some real or imaginary monthly ticket quota. And there are always safety questions when officers have to wade out into traffic to issue a ticket to lord-knows-whoever is behind the wheel.
Finally, a current traffic safety committee with various groups, including the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), may decide to add boxes elsewhere, but hasn’t yet.
If it doesn’t, that may fuel anger with this government in cities. It doesn’t seem to take much.
Asked about this in a telephone interview, the man — a public servant who’s been frustrated with the current government when it comes to his union collective agreement — acknowledges that some of the frustrations stem from being a government employee and the provincial government’s other issues like the 2017-18 budget decision to cancel the city’s grants-in-lieu from the Crowns.
This may be the real problem: When you are already mad at government, it doesn’t take much to make you even more mad.