Letter: Photo radar petition ready to roll

Editor:

We are excited to announce that our photo radar petition was filed with the Town of Morinville’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at 9 a.m. on Friday November 15, 2013. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who signed the petition, provided encouragement along the way and who told us the many varied stories of why you were supporting us. It is apparent that the people have spoken. We ended up with well over 900 signatures (10% over the minimum required) and can now only hope that our newly elected Town Council listens.

What’s next you ask?

Within 30 days of the petition being filed, the CAO must make a declaration as to whether or not the petition is sufficient (that is to say it meets all the requirements under Section 226 of the Municipal Government Act).

Once we know whether the Photo Radar Petition is deemed ‘sufficient’ by the CAO and it has been determined when it will be presented to Council, another notice will be published in order that those of you who wish to attend the public Council meeting may do so.
Thank you again for supporting us in this endeavour.

Cliff Haryett

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8 Comments

  1. Photo radar in the Town of Morinville has been a bone of contention for many since it’s inception.
    The money generated helps to support local programs, etc.
    If it generates enough to keep my taxes from going up, bring it!
    For those who call it a “Cash-Cow”… it is!! Solution?? DON’T FEED THE COW!! Speeding is illegal, photo-radar is not! Are they being “sneaky”? Probably, but sneaky is not illegal. Speeding is illegal!
    I haven’t seen the contents of this petition but in my opinion, this whole thing is a waste of time and taxpayers dollars. Hopefully our new mayor and council have better things to work through.

  2. Photo radar is here to stay. . . . . . .I hope!!

    Where it is enforced needs to change, if it has not already done so.
    IE; transition zones.

    And. there should be no need to hide, as slowing down drivers is why it was, and should continue to be incorporated.

  3. Sneaky you say? Perhaps a little. More like ruthless, tasteless, greedy, politically incorrect and almost illegal. Yes, we all know speeding is illegal. If the town is working for the tax payers, I think the tax payers should have a say in what type of work the town is doing and who is hired. Perhaps there is a better option out there?! Don’t fool yourselves with the claim that the funds collected go into supporting local programs. How about people willfully pay for the programs rather than forcebly pay. How about legitimate reports to show exactly where the funds are going? You might be surprised as to whose pockets are being lined.
    Review of the speed limits within your town needs to be considered. 50 Kms/hr in your residential areas is high for some congested neighbourhoods, while 50kms/hr on a secondary hwy with field alongside and no sidewalks is ridiculously slow. I don’t think anyone claims that speeding shouldn’t be illegal. That would be silly. It’s the manner in which the claim to be enforcing in high risk/dangerous areas, that’s a bold faced lie. Schools and neighbourhoods, yes. Exiting from a town onto a highway, not at all. There are provinces that have discontinued the use of such money driven enforcement. I highly doubt they have more speeders than we do. I’d live to see some statistics 🙂

  4. I outlined on this site a while back that no one can hold a candle to being sneaky more than Shelburne, Ontario. Like a bad cliche, the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) used to sit behind the “Welcome to Shelburne” sign. After people got stopped once, they usually didn’t speed through Shelburne.

    In the big scheme of things, it doesn’t matter where the money goes. It could be the town, the province, wherever. I believe in being fair, but not when it comes to enforcing speed limits. As said by others, if people don’t speed, they’ll never get a ticket. I got a photo radar ticket in St Albert quite a few years ago. As a result, I don’t speed through St. Albert. Live and learn.

  5. Cliff / Linda;
    This is great news. First I would like to congratulate you and thank you on your very strong effort. I know that the vast majority of people in Morinville support this petition. With the large law enforcement presence there is in Morinville, I believe 5 different types, there is no need for this revenue generated photo radar. And to the people that believe their taxes are going to go up a large amount, it would be my hope that the new council will find ways of efficiency instead of milking the tax payer as the easy way out. So once again Cliff and Linda, thank you for your effort here and I urge all the taxpayers to meet and join with you at the next city council to support your petition.

  6. start radar in residential areas,we need it there most. i not only see cars speeding,i see school busses racing in the morning and racing in the afternoon through our streets like crazy idiots.

  7. One question I meant to ask Cliff was – how many people on the petition had received photo radar tickets in town in the past 12 months? It would be an interesting statistic.

    To Bill’s comment I would add that if people would do the speed limit, they wouldn’t have to pay anything. It’s as simple as that. I watched a person in a pickup come around my corner and almost spin out on Sunday morning because he was, and continued to, exceed the speed going around the curve on my part of Grandin Drive. The kind of person that does at least 70km an hour around a corner that is covered in snow in the heart of a residential area is asking for a photo radar ticket. I will agree that the locations need to change, but the speeders have to expect to pay if they get caught. I think a great location would be om Main Street at 4pm or the school zones.

  8. Further to the points by Brent Henry and Anonymus anonym; the instance of school buses racing and a person taking a corner at 70km are dangerous driving offences and should be handled by an actual law enforcement officer not a photo radar machine. Who’s to say that these people that are dangerous drivers are not under the influence, etc., etc. A photo radar machine cannot determine that, all it can do is collect money. A law enforcement officer can take your license away, give meaningful tickets that come with points and a determination of other offences. Correct me if I am wrong, there are five different law enforcement agencies that can give tickets in the town of Morinville, a population of 8,000 +/- people.. Photo radar, simply put, is nothing but a cash cow and Lisa’s comments sum it up best.

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