Tuesday, January 11, 2011

ICBC installs more red light cameras

Driving in B.C. could get more expensive if you're inclined to run red lights.  Starting Tuesday, ICBC is turning on red light cameras at three dozen high risk intersections.  Anyone who enters an intersection on a solid red light will get a $167 ticket.  In all, 140 permanent cameras will be installed around the province during the next year as part of ICBC's $23-million intersection safety program.  ICBC's Director of Road Safety, Nicolas Jimenez, said during the last decade, 30 cameras have rotated around various intersections. Now, permanent sites are being set up.  "We're moving from 120 to 140 sites," he said. "What's really different is that we're decommissioning about half of the existing sites in the existing program because our analysis of where to locate an intersection safety program has essentially turned up better places to put these cameras. So, we're not looking for high volume intersections, we're looking for high risk intersections."  Jimenez said the money collected will go to municipalities, not ICBC. He expects more than 30,000 tickets to be handed out in 2011.

1 comment:

North Van's Grumps said...

Two years ago, March of 2009, then Solicitor General promised to have red light cameras installed, all 140 of them.

Then he had his driver's license suspended by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.... for speeding, excessive speeding. Three months later there was the Provincial Election..... and then nothing, and I mean NOTHING was done by successive Solicitor Generals.

Has anyone seen the contract between the Solicitor General on behalf of ICBC, and the company that will be operating them for the next six years with a guarantee of two bouts of two more years of extension with Redflex Holdings? Hopefully the contract isn't in anyway similar to the BC Rail deal for 990 years!