No one in British Columbia should be unaware of the existence of Photo Radar in their community by now. It has been discussed in every form of the media and its supporters and detractors have been arguing their cases very strongly.
In 1993 the death toll on the roads of British Columbia was 512 and in 1994 it increased to 534. Obviously prevailing enforcement practices were not sufficient to prevent the increasing deaths on our highways. Some other form of enforcement became necessary and photo radar had shown itself to be effective in other parts of the world. The programme used in the State of Victoria in Australia was studied as an example because it is similar to B.C. in population with approximately the same number of vehicles being driven on the highways. In 1989, the death toll on their road system was 777. In 1994 after 5 years of being in operation, they estimate they have saved 1200 lives and 9,800 people from major injury, freeing up 100,000 hospital bed-days. Communities save $6 million (Aust) per week and the state insurer $1.5 million (Aust) per week.
This article will explain how the photo radar unit operates, how sites are identified, and how the units will be deployed.
The equipment consists of a radar set linked with a 35mm camera which is housed in a vehicle and operated by a qualified police officer. The radar set operates in the Ka band at 34.6 Ghz. It is low powered and has an effective beam length of approximately 62 m (see diagram on Page 2). The set is angled across the road at 22.5 degrees and the resulting reading gives the true speed of the offending vehicle, taking into account cosine error. The radar beam is 5 degrees wide and 15 degrees high and is only 3m wide at its widest point. The traffic can be monitored either approaching the unit, receding from the unit, or both directions at the same time. The sites at which they are deployed are identified by the community and are based solely on either the potential site having a crash history or being the subject of speeding complaints.
Once a site is identified and meets the above criteria, it is the subject of a survey conducted by a photo radar operator using his equipment outside the vehicle and concealing it. The purpose of this is to establish the 85th percentile at that particular site.
This speed survey is required to establish the "tolerance" for that location and is obtained by monitoring the speed of vehicles passing the site when their speed is not affected by the presence of a police unit. The 85th percentile is the maximum speed at which 85% of the vehicles passing the site are being driven. An extra 1 km is added to that and the total becomes the "tolerance" for that site. The tolerance varies between 10km/hr and 19km/hr - never less than 10 and never greater than 19.
Photo Radar vs Conventional Radar: Beam Spread
If the 85th percentile is more than 19km/hr over the posted speed limit then that information is given to the local Municipality or M.O.T.H. for them to review the limit. If it is decided that the limit is correct then the local police traffic enforcement personnel are advised and asked to give some high profile enforcement to that location in order to bring the speed down. Then the site is resurveyed after a period of time and if the 85th percentile now comes in between 10km/hr to 19km/hr over the posted limit then that becomes an authorized site.
Before any site is the subject of a working deployment the media is advised of our intention to work that particular area and it is broadcast on radio, T.V. and in the newspapers - both local and dailies. It is not our desire to generate a great number of traffic tickets but rather to slow drivers down and hopefully change their attitudes rather that just manage their behaviour through enforcement. We believe we can achieve this through a good communication programme, and meeting with the public at shopping malls and other locations such as trade shows, public events etc. Also we give presentations at schools much like the presentations we give for seat belts, helmets, or impaired driving.
It is very early yet to start comparing statistics between time periods during 1995 and 1996 but preliminary results look promising although we have to keep in mind that we are not alone in programmes designed to reduce fatalities and crashes on our roads. We are working together with Counterattack and other special enforcement campaigns. When a ticket is produced it is sent to the registered owner and then he or she can either pay it, dispute it, or ignore it. If they decide to pay the fine then the matter is finished. If they dispute it, then a court date is set and the matter is resolved through the courts. If they ignore the ticket, they are personally served a violation ticket by a process server. They can also nominate a driver. If the nominated driver agrees to the fact that he or she was driving at the relevant time, then, after they have both completed nomination forms, the process is shifted onto the nominated driver and the above options apply to the nominated driver.
So far, in the Vancouver Island region of the traffic camera office, 845,487 vehicles have been checked for speeding between 2nd Aug. and 30th Nov. and 5.1% of them have been photographed as offenders. This is encouraging as the percentage has been steadily dropping since we began enforcement. Public opinion polls in British Columbia during 1995 show that 75% of residents favour the use of photo radar camera for catching speeders.
The anticipated results of the Photo Radar Programme during the first full year of deployment include: