I would like to thank those on Council who supported this session, Mr. Norton, ITS and Mr. [David]Schaefer for the presentation of technology utilized and available for traffic enforcement. It was instructive and helpful to be able to see and touch the equipment and have questions answered by all parties available last night. While not a huge turnout, it was nice to see approximately 20 people come out to get a better understanding of what is being used and what is available.
As we all know, technology changes rapidly, and it is the same for traffic enforcement. Under photo enforcement it was enlightening to know what is available to Mr. Schaefer but currently not in use in Morinville such as red light cameras, stop sign cameras, mobile and stationary units. We had the opportunity to see a new van that would log your speed at one spot and the camera would take the picture of your licence at a different location. There are many new and exciting tools that our town could add to its traffic enforcement tool box under the premise of safety or perceived safety while we the drivers only have our speedometers and common sense.
In conclusion, as we look towards the future, we look forward to having data gathered from the portable speed signs that we see around town available on the Town of Morinville’s website available for anyone who is interested in said data. This will take some time. As technology changes, so does the process of downloading information. We look forward to having more information sessions such as last night maybe set up at a larger venue such as the St. Jean Baptiste festival. Hopefully, this would get more people involved and interested. It is the responsibility of the public (that’s us) to let our Council know what degree of traffic enforcement is acceptable and how many tools we should allow our Administration to employ. What do you want? More RCMP? More CPOs? Or more cameras?
Thanks again
Cliff Haryett and Linda Lyons
