This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ]
Export date: Fri Mar 29 7:30:27 2024 / +0000 GMT

Shelburne considers options on photo radar


By Peter Richardson

 

Shelburnites may soon wake up to find that photo radar has come to town!

Council recently witnessed an interesting presentation from Global Traffic Group CEO David Steer expounding the virtues of the new Automated Speed Enforcement technologies pioneered in Canada by his company.

In May of this year, Bill C65, Safer School Zones, was given third and final reading at Queen's Park and became law.

The Bill, as adopted, paves the way for the use of photo radar technologies to enforce speed laws in all zones where the posted limit is under 80 km/h.

Although this would include virtually all municipal streets, the intent was to provide more enforcement options for safety zones, such as school zones and community safety zones, like as crosswalks.

At this time, despite the Bill being read into law, the actual regulations governing the use of the technology are still being drawn up.

However, the expectation is they will be finalized shortly.

Currently, Global Traffic Group has implemented its equipment and technology throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan to great success!

In both of these provinces, the programme is being used to regulate speed zones, red light and stop sign non-compliance and distracted driving incidences.

Their systems allow for either still images or video to be taken of an offence and their methods are certified as being acceptable as evidence in a court of law.

Combined with a heightened awareness programme of the problem areas, the approach has been so successful that, in some cases, the incidences of infractions has dropped to zero.

The mobile units, which only weigh approximately 4.5 kg., are intended to be operated by either a police officer, or a trained peace officer and can be easily moved from location to location.

The equipment is used in co-operation with local law enforcement agencies and all trigger speeds, the speed at which the subject "triggers" a photo to be taken are established by those agencies.

Also, the use of the unit is at the discretion of the operator, as opposed to stationary cameras, which are automated. This level of discretion allows officers to issue a warning, in lieu of a ticket, if they wish.

Mr. Speers pointed out that his company approach was centred on traffic safety, rather than being an income source.

They are in business to put themselves out of business, was how he described it.

One interesting point was that a stationary camera system would cost the town $400,000 per four way intersection, whereas the Global Traffic mobile applications, comes at no expense to the Town.

Council has taken the presentation and the information, under advisement and will investigate further before asking Global Traffic Group to return for further discussions.

GTC is the only Canadian company that offers this technology, at this time.

Next up, on the agenda, was a report from the Town engineers, S. Burnett & Associates Ltd., concerning the planned relining of the Town's water tower.

Presented by General Manager David Dagenais, the presentation presented good news and bad news.

The original estimated cost of the project had been established at $635,960, based upon a total relining of the tower and the external repairs.

SBA had subsequently ordered a second, independent evaluation of the condition of the tower.

This varied substantially from that of the original, from Landmark, the tower manufacturer.

Originally, it was thought that the tower had been lined with a thin film epoxy and quotations for removing and replacing the lining were based on this fact.

However, it was determined that, in fact, the lining was a much thicker and harder to remove, aromatic polyurethane coating.

Removing this, would cost over $600,000, compared to this $225,000 that, had been quoted.

It was subsequently determined, that a complete replacement of this thicker coating was not warranted at this time and that touch ups would suffice.

SBA, therefore, was recommending that Council authorize proceeding with the revised proposal that, including the relining touch ups, and the exterior repairs and painting and a mixing system would amount to a total of $240,920, substantially less than the eligible CWWF funding available, of $600,000.

Council approved this measure, despite the fact that, at some point in the future, a total relining will become necessary.

In other news, Council awarded the Canine Control Contract for the Town, to the Orangeville SPCA for an estimated cost of $1,750 annually, based upon previous requirements.

It was noted that this contract did not, nor would it, in the future, include cat and kitten control, as this was being handled as an entirely separate RFP that would be issued for bids after Council heard back from Sharon Morden and the Feral Cat Rescue proposals.
Post date: 2017-08-26 21:56:00
Post date GMT: 2017-08-27 01:56:00
Post modified date: 2017-09-01 17:16:57
Post modified date GMT: 2017-09-01 21:16:57
Powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin. HTML saving format developed by gVectors Team www.gVectors.com