Will the province be agreeable to adding more intersection safety cameras in the City of Delta?
A public safety resolution put forward by the city at last month’s Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention requesting the province help communities install more intersection cameras passed, as other municipalities also raised the issue with similar motions.
Delta’s motion called on the provincial government to install speed and red light cameras at intersections “upon a reasonable request from local municipalities.”
Earlier this year, the City of Victoria sent letters to other municipalities requesting they also write letters to the government to install red light and speed cameras at locations where there were more than 20 casualty collisions from 2018 to 2022, or to allow B.C. municipalities to install cameras at their own cost and collect the fines.
The letter notes that the province has stated most crashes happen at intersections and the cameras are proven to be effective at reducing side-impact, head-on and pedestrian crashes. They are located where red light running and high-speed cause serious crashes.
A subsequent report to Delta council noted the city’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) discussed the correspondence and noted the financial and logistical challenges for municipalities to install their own intersection safety cameras.
“Depending on the number of cameras installed, the capital investment and operating costs may significantly exceed any fines collected. As such, it was discussed that it would be more cost-effective and efficient for the province to expand their network of intersection safety cameras on a request basis by each municipality, as they already have an established program in place,” the report notes.
Back in 2018, the province announced that red light intersection cameras would be operating 24/7 at 140 intersections in B.C. that had some of the highest crash rates. Cameras had previously only been activated for six hours a day during high traffic periods.
Of those cameras, just a few dozen are also equipped to identify and ticket speeding vehicles.
In North Delta, there’s four intersection cameras: Nordel Way and Scott Road, Scott Road and 80 Avenue, Highway 10 and Scott Road and Nordel Way and 84 Avenue.
None were added in Tsawwassen or Ladner, including at such busy intersections as Highway 17 at 56th Street or Highway 17A at Ladner Trunk Road.
According to the province, the only Delta camera that currently is also equipped to capture speeding drivers is the one at Nordel Way at 84th Avenue.
The province says it transfers ticket fine revenue to municipalities to support policing and public safety programs.
