Photo radar cameras could help slow traffic, says incoming St. John's mayor
Danny Breen making another appeal to province to approve enforcement device
The incoming mayor of St. John's says it's time to look at new ways to get drivers to slow down in residential neighbourhoods.
I think the time has come to use that technology.- Danny Breen
Danny Breen says the city does the best it can to calm traffic, but recognizes there will always areas that could use more attention.
He said photo radar cameras, also known as traffic enforcement cameras, could make a difference.
Traffic enforcement cameras take pictures of vehicles going over the speed limit, so that drivers can be ticketed or charged without needing actual police officers in the area to pull them over.
The devices are not currently used in Newfoundland and Labrador, though digital traffic feedback signs are used in St. John's and other towns to warn drivers they are speeding and to provide traffic statistics to municipal officials.
"I believe it's time the province look at photo radar. I think the time has come to use that technology," Breen told the St. John's Morning Show.
"I don't believe the legislation covers it but I think it's something that we're going to have to look at in the future."
Efforts to allow St. John's to use photo radar received a cool response in the House of Assembly back in 2013, with then-Service NL minister Paul Davis pointing out the high cost of installing the devices.
No guarantees
Breen's comments come after a mother's call for reduced speed limits in the Southlands neighbourhood, after her 6-year-old son was struck by a car Tuesday evening. RNC said speed was not a factor in that collision.
He said as a councillor, traffic-related issues were the Number 1 thing he got calls about. He said while the city does install traffic calming measures on different residential streets on a priority basis, having a lower speed limit doesn't guarantee that people will slow down.
"We haven't found that, through our expertise and our traffic department, that lowering the speed limit will lower the speed," he said.
With files from St. John's Morning Show