Put cameras on the Malahat
Among the many things that could change in B.C. under the New Democratic Party government, some regional politicians hope to see speed cameras on the Malahat. New premier John Horgan should grant their wish. Capital Regional District directors are considering a push to bring cameras back to some highways 16 years after the B.C. Liberals scrapped them. They will vote on July 12 on a proposal to ask the Cowichan Valley Regional District to support the lobbying effort.
The term “photo radar” became so despised that the Liberals saw an easy win among many voters by getting rid of the vans that once could be seen on roadsides across the province. Gordon Campbell ordered their removal as soon as he took office in 2001. Campbell and his successor, Christy Clark, consistently refused to reconsider the decision, despite arguments that the program reduced speeding and saved lives.
Speed cameras have been on the agenda as recently as 2015, when the B.C. Coroners Service asked the government to look at automated cameras. Suzanne Anton, who was justice minister at the time, refused.
Those cameras, the same kind the regional directors are considering, differ from photo radar. Instead of vans staffed by human beings, the cameras would be automatic and would work 24 hours a day. They would calculate speed based on the time it takes a vehicle to travel between two points. Anyone caught speeding would get a ticket in the mail.
The difference between this system and photo radar is unlikely to change the minds of those who loathed the previous program — and they were many. To them, the ticket arriving in the mail long after the alleged offence seemed like an impersonal cash grab.
Indeed, the term “cash cow” frequently appeared close beside the term “photo radar.”
It’s one aspect of the curious attitude that many people have to speeding. For some reason, it’s considered OK for a police officer to catch you speeding and hand you a ticket, but if a machine catches you speeding, the government is not playing fair. More than that, the theory goes, it is just using its machines to milk you of your hard-earned cash.
What difference does it make how the driver got caught? Nobody forced the person at the wheel to put the pedal to the metal. A camera doesn’t violate a driver’s rights any more than does an officer with a radar gun.
Speeding is against the law. Speed-limit signs are prominently posted, so there is no way to claim ignorance. Whether you get caught by a person or a machine is irrelevant. If you don’t want to give your money to the government, slow down.
The fine isn’t a tax or a fee; it’s a punishment for breaking the law. Like all fines, its goal is to change behaviour.
Speed kills. Ample statistics and simple physics prove the case. And rigorous enforcement can reduce speeding. In the six years before photo radar was removed in 2001, traffic fatalities in B.C. declined.
The purpose of the cameras is to reduce serious crashes by making people slow down. The more often someone gets caught, the more likely he or she will get the message. It they don’t fear the physics, they might fear the fine.
That’s why unobtrusive cameras are not the answer. Make them automatic. Make them ubiquitous. But make them obvious. Put up big signs saying: “If you speed on this highway, you will get caught.”
The safety improvements the province is making to the Malahat will help cut the number and seriousness of crashes, but they are just part of the solution. Convincing drivers to slow down is another part.