Photo radar almost ready for rollout on P.E.I. roads, government says

The P.E.I. government says it's gearing up to install photo radar on roads across the province.

Transportation Minister Ernie Hudson said at the Legislature Tuesday the Island is almost ready to roll out the technology, which would help police crack down on excessive speeding.

The minister said that while there's no exact start date for the rollout, progress is being made. 

"My department, together with the Department of Justice, are presently working on the regulations," Hudson said.

"We need to have that put in place as soon as possible." 

Those traffic violations, … if we can stop them, we can make our roads safe.- Brad Trivers, PC MLA

Photo radar detects the speed of moving vehicles, snapping a picture of its licence plate and sending a ticket to the owner if it was going too fast.

In 2021, lawmakers changed sections of the Highway Traffic Act to enable the use of photo radar, allowing pictures taken by those cameras to be used in court for evidence if necessary.

PC MLA Brad Trivers said the province is ready for the rollout.

"I think that we've seen in the jurisdictions that have implemented full photo radar across Canada that really it's efficient, it's effective and it's relatively inexpensive," he said. 

"We're ready to go. We waited for years for this."

Trivers said he's hopeful for what the tech could mean when it comes to road safety.

"It's great to see those changes in place," he said. 

"Those traffic violations, … if we can stop them, we can make our roads safe."