City of Montreal wants more control over photo radars

The City of Montreal wants control over the number and location of photo radars. They say they are concerned for the safety of more vulnerable road users, like pedestrians and cyclists.

“What we want is to have all the powers to put them where we believe is the right place to put them,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante on Wednesday.

Head of Mobility on the Montreal executive committee Sophie Mauzerolle is set to present the city’s demands during a study of Bill 48 at the National Assembly in Quebec City, led by the Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault.

The minister is looking to remove the obligation regarding the Road Safety Code, in which cities must report to the government on the signage surrounding photo radars, once installed.

Additionally, Quebec wants to allow the installation of photo radars by the cities themselves, but only in school zones or on active construction sites.

Plante’s administration wants complete autonomy over the choice of locations for these photo radars and the total amount.

“At the moment, there are 52 photo radars [in Quebec], including only eight in Montreal,” said Plante. “Toronto, in comparison, has 75 in total.”

The Quebec government is considering purchasing more modern radars, which makes it possible to take a photo of a car in two places on a road, while calculating the average speed based on travel time.

This would prevent cars from slowing down until they approach a speed camera.

According to data provided by the city, photo radars reduce speed by 11 km/h on average, in addition to reducing red light traffic by 70 per cent.

However, the CAA-Quebec is against the Plante administration’s idea.

The organization believes that photo radar supervision must be maintained at the ministerial level “in order to ensure an orderly deployment of these tools.”