The City of Airdrie is looking to crack down on speeders and people who run red lights and are discussing the implementation of Red Light Cameras.

City staff are in the midst of reviewing intersection safety and speed among other things.

Lynn MacKenzie, the team lead for municipal enforcement, says a recent pilot project shows there are clear issues with people speeding and running lights.

“The pilot project was undertaken back in May. Over a 12 hour period, only one direction of travel was reviewed on Yankee Valley Boulevard and Main Street and Veterans Boulevard and Main Street,” said MacKenzie. “There was quite a significant violation that was happening for both speeding and red lights.”

According to the report, 976 vehicles went through these two intersections at a speed greater than 15 km/h over the posted speed and/or went through red lights.

In order to combat these issues, the city will be further looking into the cost and potential impact of bringing in red light cameras.

“They can only be used in high-risk locations. Communities do use [intersection safety devices] to enhance enforcement at critical intersections,” she said. “There are several reports that show that this tool can be used successfully to reduce collisions.”

“Adding intersection safety devices as a tool will aid law enforcement with creating safer roads and is supported by both RCMP and Municipal Enforcement.”

Staff will provide a report and recommendations to City Council once they’ve completed a thorough study and costing of the intersection safety devices.

In the meantime, the city is also making changes to traffic signal timing. The city says the Institute of Transportation Engineers reviewed the clearance intervals and developed new formulas for calculating the yellow and red times.

“The City’s consultant ran these formulas for all 40 signals in Airdrie and provided new timing plans for each,” said MacKenzie.

The new traffic light timing is expected to be implemented over the next few months.

 

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