Photo radar devices are regaining the pace

Photo Marc Vallières, QMI Agency
The department of Transportation has installed Thursday morning, a photo radar on the Laurentienne highway at the entrance of a work zone.

Nicolas Saillant

Thursday, 31 August, 2017 11:18

UPDATE
Thursday, 31 August, 2017 12:56

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The lawyers of the State have worked throughout the summer as a priority to develop solutions that will restart the issuance of traffic tickets by photo radar devices, as announced by the Transport minister, Laurent Lessard.

Paralyzed since November of 2016 following a judgment making the ” hearsay evidence is illegal and inadmissible “, the radar picture will resume their cruising speed, ensures the minister Lessard. “The cameras are here to stay “, he vowed.

“I tell everyone that, if you pass by a photo radar, don’t think that because there has been a slowdown, you’re not going to make you take. Raise the foot “, has launched Laurent Lessard on the sidelines of a press conference on Thursday.

The minister argued that his colleagues at the department of Justice had “reviewed the procedure” and that they had ” started to make presentations of evidence “, without providing clear indications on the nature of these changes.

More difficult to challenge

According to what The Journal could learn, the lawyers of the State have been working for several months in order to identify avenues for it to be more difficult to contest violations issued by photo radar devices. The work would now be completed, and regulatory changes could be in force soon.

The number of checks of the devices will be then increased, in particular to avoid the evidence, ” hearsay “, harmed by the decision of the judge Cimon in November 2016. As was revealed The Journal, the number of tickets issued by photo radar devices has dropped drastically since this decision was made, from 42 000 in November 2016 to only 269 in June 2017.

“Now, it unlocks “, however, has repeated the minister, recalling that the radar picture had earned$ 25 Million in the State’s coffers last year.

Call for projects

On the other hand, the minister has committed to provide$ 30 Million in various initiatives aimed at improving safety in the vicinity of the roads. A call for projects is launched to enable citizens, organizations and municipalities to submit their proposals.

The envelope comes directly from the sum of $ 110 million generated by the photo radar devices since their introduction. “The purpose is not to enrich the government, it is to return the money to users “, he said.

— With the collaboration of Dominique Lelièvre

A fall in the last few months

November 2016

• 41 721 observations served
• 5 390 260 $

December 2016

• 8311 findings served
• 986 156 $

January 2017 :

• 3370 findings served
• 494 336 $

February 2017 :

• 1973 findings served
• 288 902 $

March 2017 :

• 293 findings served
• 66 063 $

April 2017 :

• 274 findings served
• 73 157 $

May 2017 :

• 309 findings served
• 95 270 $

June 2017 :

• 269 findings served
• 93 920 $