[Dion]

Edmonton moves toward zero tolerance for speeders

I’ve been digging into this question since I got an unwelcome letter in the mail this week. The Government of Alberta had sent me a $78 photo radar ticket for travelling 60 km/h in a 50-km/h zone on Feb. 15. I was driving my son to a weekend minor hockey game in St. Albert, travelling up Groat Road toward 107th Ave. It’s a major, two-lane, northbound artery.

The ticket surprised me. My own understanding — based on years of driving and on something that an Edmonton city police officer once told me in an official capacity — was that the authorities would not give out a speeding ticket unless you were going more than 15 km/h over the speed limit.

Then came this new ticket. The rules have changed, it would seem, and this follows the city taking over photo radar duties in 2012.

When I asked Gerry Shimko, the city’s executive director of traffic safety, if there was now any tolerance for speeding, he said even one km over can get you a $57 ticket. “The answer to me is we should have zero speed tolerance,” he said: “The law is the law.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ed...786/story.html