A few months ago I received a call from a resident who was concerned that our new traffic lights at the corner of Kowalski Drive and the highway had a red light camera.
My first thought was good. If a camera is what it takes to get people to slow down, as in the case of photo radar or not blow through a red light, then I’m all for it, as they say, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time, or in this case fine.
It turns out to be a moot point as what the caller believed to be a red light camera was just a photosensor to tell the light when someone was at the intersection.
That being said, it did get me thinking it is perhaps time for Alberta to have a front and back plate. The province eliminated the requirement for the second plate in 1992 as a way to save money.
The Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) is currently lobbying the province to provide funding to install external cameras on school buses to help identify and convict motorists who disregard the red flashing lights on buses.
The reason being, these systems are expensive. According to a story in the Edmonton Journal, the High Prairie school division two years ago installed five cameras on each of its 46 school buses — two cameras outside each bus, and three inside at a cost of $250,000.
However, even with the cameras, there is no guarantee it be able to capture the licence plate of a person who does the ‘fly-by’, but the chance would increase exponentially if there was a second plate the chances would double. It would also help the RCMP and groups such as Rural Crime Watch identify suspect vehicles.
As I write this, the Barrhead and Area Crime Coalition (BARCC) has issued an alert for a person of interest in a series of thefts, including that of a stolen vehicle. To help the public identify the vehicle the police issued a description of the vehicle complete with its licence plate number. If it had both front and back plates it would be that much easier to spot.
Like anything, there is a cost attached, approximately $10 million, but it is one that would be easily recouped by a small increase in a vehicles registration fee. Considering in 2018, there were 3,557,249 vehicles registered in the province, the increase would be less than $3.
Of course, the best solution is to obey the law and come to a full stop about 20 metres, or four to five car lengths, behind the bus. Drivers must remain stopped until the lights are turned off and the stop sign is no longer extended.
