P.E.I. traffic fine revenue dips after 4 year climb
RCMP believe more compliance with seatbelts, cell phone use could be factor
Revenue from provincial highway traffic fines on P.E.I. took a dip last year for the first time in four years.
The money comes from fines handed out by RCMP and municipal police forces on P.E.I. for violations such as speeding, cell phone use, and failing to wear a seatbelt.
In 2012-13 revenue from fines was $868,000. That jumped to more than a million dollars the following year and rose steadily over the next few years until 2015-16 when fines totalled $1,071,000. But the following year revenues dipped to $926,000.
That information was released by the attorney general's office in response to a question from the Opposition during the last sitting.
The numbers of fines has increased steadily in recent years. Those numbers were provided by the Department of Justice and Public Safety to CBC on request and is considered approximate due to variations on when the fines were paid. Although there were more tickets issued in 2016-17, for example, they wouldn't all have been paid when the stats were done up, according to the province.
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Number of fines issued (approximate) |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | $926,000 | 7,586 |
| 2015-16 | $1,071,000 | 7,275 |
| 2014-15 | $1,039,000 | 7,137 |
| 2013-14 | $1,008,000 | 5,985 |
| 2012-13 | $868,000 | N/A |
Fewer law-breakers?
The decrease in revenue could be because fewer drivers are breaking the law — or committing fewer serious violations — or both.
"What we've noted over the last year or so, is it's much harder to detect these offences," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Baillie. I think overall that there's been an increase in the use of seatbelts, and a decrease in the use of cell phones while driving, and I think as a result of education and enforcement it's a positive thing."
Distracted driving
It became illegal in 2010 to text and drive on P.E.I. and in August 2015 the minimum fine for distracted driving doubled from $250 to $500.
"RCMP laid a significant number of charges for this offence during the first year," said Baillie, also crediting a media campaign in recent years urging drivers to leave their phones alone. As a result, he said, fewer tickets are being written for distracted driving.
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However Baillie does say some Island drivers could do better.
"Certainly I think a number of people are still using cell phones. I think they're a little more sly in using them in that they often have them in their lap or down below the window level. You often see people at intersections spending a lot of time staring at their lap that I suspect they're on their phone or texting using their phone."
Speeding remains a problem
However, speeding continues to be a problem, said Baillie. To illustrate, he explained he was working on traffic patrol during the recent Cavendish Beach Musical Festival and wrote a number of speeding tickets. In a 50 km/hour zone the lowest speed a ticketed driver was going was 83 km/hr and the highest speed was 122 km/hr. Most of the tickets went to Island drivers, he said.
"This time of year, there's a lot of tourists around, a lot more traffic on the road, a lot more pedestrians on the road," said Baillie, making it even more important to drive within speed limits.
In the past couple of weeks both Stratford and Georgetown have identified speeding in their communities as a problem. Georgetown is considering installing mobile speed bumps.
Stratford is also looking at photo radar and installing more speed bumps. The town council wants RCMP to do more enforcement.
The number of tickets issued in Stratford is down 65 per cent since 2015 — 76 tickets in the first six months of this year compared to 213 during the same period in 2015.
"An important part of determining where traffic enforcement is conducted is ongoing consultation with the town councils and other governing bodies in the communities that we serve," said Baillie. "If we receive a driving complaint in a particular area, we will conduct enforcement in that area to determine if there is a problem, and if there is, write tickets and/or warnings, as well as try to get messaging out to the motoring public to deter the driving that is leading to the complaints."
In addition, RCMP conduct "high visibility patrols" at times during the year, he said, such as in school zones when school starts each September, as well as traffic "blitzes" to crack down on areas where speeding has been identified as a problem.
Traffic-related complaints are one of the most frequent calls RCMP officers respond to, said Baillie. In one 24-hour period late last week for example, RCMP responded to 20 traffic related complaints, including those involving speeding, erratic driving and passing on a double solid line.
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