Saskatoon speed camera violations skyrocket in school zones
CBC
Speed camera violations increased exponentially in Saskatoon over the last six years, fuelled by a surge in speeding detected in school zones.
According to data compiled by Saskatchewan Government Insurance and shared at last week’s board of police commissioners meeting, the total violations more than doubled to 64,971 last year from 31,325 in 2020.
While the violations from camera locations along Circle Drive remained essentially the same (25,169 last year compared to 25,361 in 2020), violations in school zones jumped nearly sevenfold to 39,971 from 5,964 during the same period.
A Saskatoon legal advocate who helps motorists fight traffic tickets encourages vehicle owners who have been served with a ticket for a speed camera violation to consider challenging it in court.
“These tickets are very challengable,” Coden Nikbakht said in an interview. “[Automated enforcement] involves what I call a robot.”
Nickbakht said the tickets can be challenged in several ways, including disputing whether the vehicle was exceeding the speed limit or whether permission was granted for someone else to drive the vehicle.
The tickets can also be challenged based on the time it took to receive the ticket, such as delays caused by the Canada Post strike, he added. Tickets are issued to the vehicle owner, not the driver, and are sent by mail.
“I think for a lot of people, when they receive a ticket of $350 in the mail, that’s unaffordable for a lot of people,” Nikbakht said.
SGI says not every violation recorded by cameras results in a ticket being issued. The footage is reviewed by a Saskatoon police officer before a ticket is sent.
One camera rotates through four school zone locations in Saskatoon: St. Michael Community School on 33rd Street East, Brownell School on Russell Road, École canadienne-française on Albert Avenue and Mother Teresa School and Silverspring School on Konihowski Road.
The camera at École canadienne-française was located at the back of the school, on Clarence Avenue, after consultations with police and Saskatoon city hall engineers, SGI spokeswoman Heather Hubic said in an email.
SGI declined to release specific numbers for each location because it could lead to motorists believing they have a lower chance of getting caught at some spots.
Hubic said the school zone on 33rd Street East “consistently shows higher-than-average rates of speeding, including instances of excessive speed,” so the camera is placed there more often.
She added: “Because photo speed enforcement is intentionally focused on the most challenging locations, increases in violations can occur year over year.”
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