Let’s call it photo radar light

PR GETS BAD PR — The NDP government of the 1990s introduced a province-wide photo-radar program that saw police hiding in vans and clocking drivers’ speeds using radar, then snapping pictures of speeders’ licence plates and sending them fines in the mail.

It brought in millions in revenue and everyone hated it.

When the B.C. Liberals took over, they abolished it their first day in office. For years, photo radar was pitched as a symbol of grabby, intrusive government.

Last week, the NDP government announced plans to retool some intersection cameras designed to catch people running traffic lights so that they can also do speed enforcement. So is B.C. going back to photo radar? Prepare to take cover if you ask Solicitor General Mike Farnworth that question.

A reporter did so and struck a sensitive nerve. “It’s not photo radar,” he snapped. “It’s gauging speed to get an understanding of the speed that people are going through intersections and that is going to help determine where are the worst intersections and where things need to happen to make sure we can make intersections safe.”

A government backgrounder said the new system is more transparent than the provincial photo radar program that ended in 2001.

“It used unmarked vans in random locations, issued tickets at low speeding thresholds and tied up police resources with two officers staffing each van.”

So they’re gauging speed. Using radar. And taking photos. But it’s not “photo radar.”

POTENTIAL P3 — People who drive northern routes comment on the scenery and the wildlife, of course. But they also remark on the absence of toilets.

Liberal MLA Dan Davies said: “It’s something that I hear all the time from people using that highway (97 North), that there are no opportunities to pull over to rest and to use facilities. … Travelling 400 kilometres between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson — to have one rest area just 45 or 50 minutes out of Fort St. John is not very good.”

(A northern group did a study of the urgent need and called it the “Gotta Go” project.)

There’s a shared federal-provincial arrangement over parts of the route.

Said Transportation Minister Claire Trevena: “We’ll happily talk with our federal counterparts about what we can do.”

But those kind of talks take time. So in the meantime, cross your legs, but don’t hold your breath.

Les Leyne covers the B.C. Legislature for the Victoria Times Colonist. This is a regular column in the Daily Courier.