Intersection Safety Devices (ISDs) Help Save Lives
Sunday November 15, 2009
Gerry Shimko

Red light cameras will now do double duty at high collision intersections in Edmonton, St. Albert and Strathcona County. For years the Province of Alberta has allowed municipalities to use electronic devices to enforce traffic laws. Last year they approved the use of Intersection Safety Devices (ISDs), more commonly known as red light cameras, to measure speed in intersections on all phases of the light. Red, yellow and green. Cameras are already issuing tickets to drivers that run red lights and now if you speed while driving through an intersection, you could receive a ticket for that too.

The City of Edmonton currently has 60 locations where ISDs are in use. St. Albert has 2 and Strathcona County has 6. The cameras are located at high collision intersections where speed and red light infractions occur the most and where it is dangerous or difficult for police officers to enforce traffic laws. Strathcona County has already started to measure speed in intersections, has gone through a warning letter phase and began issuing tickets on June 1st this year. Edmonton and St. Albert begin using ISDs in September of this year.

Intersections are very dangerous places for motorists and pedestrians. In Alberta, almost half of all collisions occur at intersections. Each year, more than 25,000 collisions occur in the Capital region and more than one-quarter result in injury or death. Two out of three of these injury collisions occur in intersections. Speed enforcement is a fundamental component of any road safety strategy. There is a direct link between the driving speed and the severity of a collision. The faster you go, the more difficult it is to control your vehicle, the harder you hit and the more severe the collision is. ISDs are just another tool in our strategy to encourage drivers to slow down, and with that, reduce the number of collisions at intersections and help make our roads safer.

Enforcing the speed limit at intersections is not about generating revenue – it’s about saving lives. It’s about taking big steps to change the attitude and behaviour of drivers. It’s about making speeding through intersections as unacceptable as not wearing a seatbelt or driving impaired. There is no such thing as safe speeding. The cost of collisions to municipalities, the health care system, the insurance industry and society far outweighs anything we could collect from tickets.

ISDs are not about tricking motorists – they are about getting drivers to slow down and obey the speed limit. Every intersection that has a camera has a sign indicating that the intersection they are approaching has electronic monitoring. ISDs, coupled with a comprehensive signage and education program, has proven to be highly effective in reducing collisions and injuries at intersections by making drivers more aware of their driving habits and to change their behaviour. The constant reminder encourages drivers to slow down or get a ticket. The chance of getting caught is the deterrent.

The Capital Region Intersection Safety Partnership (CRISP), a partnership made up of Alberta Health Services, Alberta Motor Association, City of Edmonton, City of St. Albert, Strathcona County as well as the EPS and RCMP, completely supports the idea of using ISDs to measure speed in intersections and make our roads safer for all users. Our goal is to see no tickets issued. If drivers are not running reds or speeding though intersections, we will have fewer and less severe collisions. That’s the whole purpose of monitoring speed in intersections – it’s about saving lives.

-- Gerry Shimko, CRISP Chair
Executive Director, Office of Traffic Safety, City of Edmonton

Column ID#: 119

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