One of the five red light cameras activated Monday for speed enforcement is now catching lead-foot motorists on the downhill stretch at the foot of Pitt River Bridge.
Cameras installed at the intersection of Lougheed Highway and Old Dewdney Trunk Road will now nab motorists doing over the limit through the intersection and if you’re wondering if there’s any leeway, that’s something the government is not discussing.
Last May, the Ministry of Public Safety announced that red light cameras at 35 intersections in B.C. will be enhanced to also capture motorists speeding through those intersections.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said then that the threshold at which the cameras will be activated won’t be released. That’s how it works in other provinces, Farnworth said.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Bill Dingwall, a former RCMP officer, welcomes the step.
For one thing, having speed enforcement through the intersection will have a preventive function and help most motorists reduce their speed. And the device will also catch the motorists who are driving too fast, he added.
“At the end of the day, it’s about curbing bad driving,” he said. It will keep public safety top of mind so it’s a good thing, Dingwall added.
“From my perspective, anything like that is welcome.”
The intersection at 207th Street and Lougheed Highway, in Maple Ridge, is another of the 35 cameras that will be activated for speed enforcement over the next months.
The two intersections selected have had high numbers of crashes: between 2013 and 2017, there were 396 crashes at the Lougheed Hwy. and Old Dewdney Trunk interchange; and there were 302 at 207th Street and Lougheed Highway.
The cameras clock the speed of each vehicle that goes through the intersection, even on a green light, and automatically send out a ticket to the vehicle’s registered owner should it be speeding.
pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
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