By Brent Bosker

Saskatoon police chief says radar cameras ‘having an effect’

Jan 2, 2015 | 11:58 AM

Photo radar cameras have only been in place for a few weeks but they’re already making a difference in Saskatoon according the city’s police chief.

Chief Clive Weighill said the first data collected from the automated speed enforcement cameras is showing them people are actually slowing down.

“We’re starting to see the speeds already starting to slow down on Circle and that’s what we were hoping to achieve,” he said adding police have been monitoring speeds since the cameras were installed on Dec.8.

The SGI pilot program provided the Saskatoon Police Service with two cameras. One moves between five city school zones while the second camera is rotated along five spots on Circle Drive.

The city has said the average speed on Circle Drive is approximately 98 kilometres per hour (km/h) which is above the the 90 km/h speed limit currently allowed.

Raiders AGM

Raiders impact on Prince Albert local economy continues to go up: AGM report

4h ago

Court proceedings

'The impact of this trauma will echo for generations': court case surrounding La Ronge woman's death reaches conclusion

Dec 11, 2024

Going Global

P.A.'s Zablocki named to Team Canada for U18 Women's World Championships

Dec 11, 2024

“Well, I think people are driving on Circle they’re seeing the signs – they see the cameras there so they’re leery they may be getting a ticket already, so it’s having an effect,” said Weighill.

A two-month grace period is currently in effect, with police mailing out warning letters to drivers who are caught speeding past the cameras.

Once that’s over Weighill said they will have more concrete data to work with.

“We’ll be doing some comparisons from the period where we’re just giving people warning tickets to when we actually start giving the offense tickets and see if the speeds have slowed down.”

bbosker@rawlco.com

On Twitter @brentbosker