Police in Lethbridge want to remind drivers that there are several new photo radar sites in the city, specifically around school and playground zones.
“It’s more about the awareness of those vulnerable places where we want motorists to be paying attention, so no serious collisions happen in those areas,” says Sgt. Danny Lomness of Lethbridge Police Service’s Traffic Response Unit.
The Alberta government banned municipalities from adding new photo radar locations in 2019, but that prohibition was lifted last month when the province announced changes to the current automated traffic enforcement program.
As part of the changes, photo radar will be banned on provincial highways and restricted to playground, school and construction zones, as of April 1. LPS has removed 27 sites that were no longer compliant under the new guidelines.
The province adds that municipalities can request to have additional photo radar sites implemented for different circumstances, hence the new sites being added in Lethbridge.
“Just because there’s 42 new sites, doesn’t mean there’s 42 new school or playground zones. There was a significant increase within the freeze for the last several years, we had more school and playground zones develop. There could be one school, but within that one school or playground area, there could also be the roads surrounding that immediate area,” notes Lomness.
He explains there could be four roads surrounding that school and each one of those roads has to be designated as a site.
During construction season, Lomness adds, photo radar can also be utilized in construction zones, saying, “We plan on doing that, as well.”
According to Lomness, with the new sites, there will be no new resources needed. “With the restrictions of locations, we had to adjust some of our times, but not adding any more resources.”
Recently, the Town of Taber ended its contract with LPS for automated traffic enforcement.
“Now, we’ll add a few more dates and times that photo radar will be deployed back into the city,” says Lomness.
Photo radar locations will rotate throughout the city, adds Lomness. “Some sights are going to be higher flow traffic than others, which ultimately increases the risk, so you might see more in those areas. That will be determined by traffic flow and incidences.”
Lomness says LPS feels as though it’s a responsibility to protect those vulnerable people, typically younger kids in school and playground zones, where sometimes there’s a higher risk.
Photo radar is another deterrent for people to be aware of. “We got to make sure people are slowing down,” he says.
“When people are slowing down, they’re paying attention to their surroundings a lot more, which ultimately makes the road users in those specific areas safer.”
READ MORE: New photo radar monitoring starts in 42 Lethbridge playground zones today
