MUST READ

Is Red-Light Running Crisis Intentional? (PDF, 237KB)
2006 Program Review Audit (PDF, 529KB)
Provincial Conditions Of Authority (PDF, 191KB)
 

What you need to know Winnipeg…

City of Winnipeg and Winnipeg Police Services Use Safety as a Smoke-screen for a Predatory Cash Grab

• Amber light times are inadequate at 4.0 seconds for many intersections, this creates the dangerous “dilemma zone” for drivers
• Photo enforcement actually creates more dangerous driving conditions – collision rates have increased at camera intersections according to MPIC Story:
  http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/columnists/tom_brodbeck/2010/09/22/15445456.html
  Also: http://thenewspaper.com/news/32/3278.asp
• City of Winnipeg is suppressing data and reports that reveal photo enforcement is having a negative impact on safety, TIRF Report is one year overdue and still has not been released despite the city being in possession of a “confidential” draft since March 7th
• WiseUpWInnipeg is encountering tremendous amount of obstruction in exercising Freedom of Information requests – dozens of FIPPA requests have been denied
  Story: http://thenewspaper.com/news/33/3346.asp
  Also: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/mobile/complaints-lodged-over-speed-cams-111312484.html
• City of Winnipeg is engaged in an Intentional scheme to make signage inadequate to induce more traffic violations – lack of speed reduction signs prior to Grant and Wilton, Logan and Main, signage is intentionally posted higher than maximum allowances stated in the MUTCD Manual.
  Story: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/02/16/17306526.html
  Also: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/02/27/17431736.html
  Also: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/02/16/17299991.html
  Also: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/02/18/17325306.html
  Also: http://thenewspaper.com/news/34/3406.asp
• City deliberately removed median warning signs to reduce awareness of camera intersections
  Story: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/04/01/17848211.html
• City ignored WIseUp’s recommendation to add 1 second to amber light times because they know it will kill the photo-enforcement program
• Almost 100% of the red light camera violations would be eliminated by adding 1 second to amber times based on the fact that more than 80% of all violations occur within the first 3 tenths of a second into the red change.

Photo Enforcement Program is Operating Illegally and Unethically

• Program violates nearly every requirement of the Provincial Conditions of Authority read more (PDF 191KB)
• A highly suspicious bid procurement process in 2003, administered by Traffic Sgt. John Butcher, results in a tainted sole-source contract being awarded to ACS.
• Quote: Adjusting Amber Lights……..”Would Ruin the Photo Enforcement Program” -Traffic Sgt. John Butcher, WPS, Oct. 30, 2001 Winnipeg Free Press
• Thereafter John Butcher becomes V.P. of ACS Canadian Operations, overseeing the Winnipeg program.
• 2006 program Audit rips Winnipeg Police Service for a “lack of due diligence in the procurement process that led to misleading and unsubstantiated information going forward to the Award Authority.” — Photo Enforcement Program Review by City Audit Department, February 2006 read more (PDF 529KB)
• Motorists illegally ticketed in construction zones with no workers present, City refuses to refund the tickets
  Story: http://thenewspaper.com/news/29/2930.asp
• Program continues to target motorists in illegitimate “school zones” (no school adjacent, ticket thrown – Mag. Klassen decision, 2010)
  Story: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/columnists/tom_brodbeck/2010/10/08/15638896.html
  Also: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/crown-admits-photo-radar-defeat-115857504.html
• Photo enforcement ticket revenues exceed $10M annually with ACS, a for-profit American company, pocketing more than $5M

A little sordid history about the Winnipeg photo enforcement program…

• Initial City procurement bid in 2003 was badly botched or compromised – resulting in what amounted to a single source contract awarded to ACS, despite submission of the highest bid. ACS pocketed $ 31 Million over 5 years while the program struggled to maintain a surplus and even ran a deficit in 2004
• WPS Contract Administrator in charge of procurement of the City contract was later hired as the V.P. of Canadian Operations with ACS
• Winnipeg City Auditor’s 2006 Photo Enforcement Program Review ripped the WPS for “a lack of due diligence in the procurement process that led to misleading and unsubstantiated information going forward to City Council.”
• The City added 18 new cameras in 2005, doubled ticket fines in 2007, started ticketing in construction zones with no workers present, after hours in school zones not adjacent to schools – all in a desperate attempt to claw for more revenue
• Review of the 2002 Province of Manitoba’s Conditions of Authority for the operation of photo-enforcement in Winnipeg reveals the City has grossly violated many of the terms of the agreement (all of which are grounds for program termination)
• • Stated intent of photo-enforcement legislation is to “improve traffic safety through reduction of red light and speeding violations and injury collisions associated with these high-risk driving behaviours” – however latest MPI data, consistent with other jurisdictions in the world, demonstrates that red light cameras actually cause more collisions than they prevent.
  • An Annual Report was required to be submitted by April 1st of each year and was to include an analysis of the effect of photo enforcement on traffic safety, including annual statistics and year to year variances in traffic collisions, injuries and collision severity – the City has never once produced this analysis in the 9 years that the program has been operating almost certainly because the data would expose the fact that photo enforcement actually causes more collisions
    Story: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/columnists/tom_brodbeck/2011/02/13/17257406.html
  • The Conditions of Authority also state that if the City is in breach or default of any term or condition set out in the agreement, they have 30 days to remedy the breach or face termination of the agreement and revocation of authority to operate photo enforcement
  • Based on the above violations, the Province should terminate the agreement immediately

A few program facts…

• City of Winnipeg has strategically selected red light camera locations based on optimal profit generation potential not on excessive collision occurrence
• The most dangerous intersection in Winnipeg, Kenaston at McGillivray, had its red-light camera removed. Why would the City do such a thing if safety is indeed their true priority?
  Story: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/amber-light-at-crash-corner-too-short-activist-115706079.html
• WiseUpWinnipeg has demonstrated how a 4.0 second amber interval is inadequate at many Winnipeg intersections based on industry accepted practice of taking posted speed, road grade and size of intersection into account. For example, this calculation would require all 80 km/hr intersections to have amber intervals in excess of 5 seconds. This would effectively eliminate the dangerous dilemma zone created by inadequate amber times.
• A red-light camera program has never survived a public referendum in North America (approx. 20 municipal votes)
• The City of Saskatoon policy requires all its photo radar warning signage to be dual mounted, whereas Winnipeg only mounts a single curb-side sign after intentionally removing all median warning signs to reduce driver awareness
• The City has commissioned a report by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) and after being long overdue a “confidential” draft has been received internally but the City is refusing to comment on when it will be released to the public. Could it be that it will contain information that will expose the City’s bogus safety agenda?

Dirty tactics by the City…

• WPS and City have used evasive and obstructive tactics to justify dozens of Freedom of Information (FIPPA) refusals amounting to a cover-up of program information and contempt for the rights of citizens read more (PDF 135KB)
• The City of Winnipeg photo-enforcement bid document states that all ticket records must remain the property of the City yet requests to obtain them were refused because the records are “in the custody and control of ACS.”
• City has undertaken an “intentionally inadequate” signage strategy that reduces or eliminates photo enforcement warning signs to induce more violations. Blatant examples include removing median warning signs prior to all red light camera intersections, inadequately posting and improperly mounting speed reduction warning signs prior to camera intersections in 50 km/hr zones such as Main at Logan and Grant at Wilton.
• City has been caught in a blatant contradiction of their traffic signage policy – their Traffic Engineer Dept. states that the City must adhere to signage standards set out in the provincial MUTCD manual yet their Transportation Manager, Luis Escobar, was quoted in the Winnipeg Sun as saying “The manual recommends that that’s the height you have to adhere to. But it gives an engineer room to decide if you need to modify the measurements,” said Luis Escobar, manager of transportation for the City of Winnipeg. The document says it “should” be placed between two and three metres, but it does not say “shall,” he said. “Based on the language, that gives us the freedom to use engineering judgment.”
• City was presented with a solution that has been proven effective in the State of Georgia to virtually eliminate red light camera violations – the addition of one extra second to amber light intervals.
  Story: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/03/16/17633431.html

The City committed to study the concept but submitted a report after a one year delay that rejected the solution outright, claiming that what works in Georgia will not necessarily work in Winnipeg. WiseUpWinnipeg subsequently confirmed that the City did not even contact officials at the State of Georgia demonstrating that the City did not perform any due diligence to study the policy despite its proven success. Addition of one second to all amber intervals would eliminate 97% of all red light violations – obviously an outcome that the City would desperately want to avoid given that profit is their primary motive.

Adjusting Amber Lights…. “Would Ruin the Photo Enforcement Program”
Sgt. Jon Butcher, WPS, Oct. 30, 2001 Winnipeg Free Press (Jon Butcher was in charge of original contract negotiations with ACS then subsequently hired as V.P. of Canadian Operations with the company)