 Custom Search  How Many Photo Tickets Will It Take Before You Fight Back? GPS Radar Detectors Pay For Themselves. Winnipeg: Photos Lend Evidence To Construction Zone Cash Grab
 Example #1 (click on photos to enlarge)  Example #2 As Mayor Katz scrambles to change the City's policy for photo radar in construction zones, his efforts are being met with the reply, "Too Little Too Late. People have had it with being lied to. They see through the feigned surprise that He Did Not Know This Was Happening! The City simply wants to deflect the negativity away from the program as they are currently trying to create a positive image so that the government will consider Easing the rules on Photo Enforcement. Many People reading this article will be familiar with the above two photos. It's the same background from their photos. If you are already upset over the underhanded way the City has used photo radar to catch you unaware by setting up in in vacant construction zones or school yards during the holidays and playgrounds in the middle of Winter. Then fasten your seat belt because you will be furious by the time you get to the bottom of this page. If you are a person who scoffs at those who have received tickets and tell them to suck it up. By the time you get to the bottom of this page I think you will realize that you have been had. You have been led to believe this program increases safety and changes driver behavior, when in fact it does neither. No One is advocating Speeding! Stop getting hung up on the law being broken and start realizing that it's the method of enforcement here that matters. The spin on photo enforcement makes it difficult to speak up in opposition. Those who do disagree with it get branded as being against safety or they are pro-speeding and red light running. However more and more people are standing up around the world and exposing this system for what it is. Now It's Time For Manitobans To Do The Same!
So you can guess how the gentleman who sent me the following photos felt when he drove up to Bishop Grandin and Pembina at the beginning of October and drove by the same spot where his vehicle, back in August received a photo ticket for travelling 77 in the reduced 60 zone Back in August his brother had been visiting from Ontario and borrowed the car. While driving though what appeared to be a vacant Construction Zone on a Sunday morning at 10:51am, his brother passed the mobile photo radar unit at 77 in a Reduced 6o zone. The owner pled not guilty and set up a court date and then on the Morning of October 2nd while approaching this same location saw that there was now no speed reduction posted, however for the first time there was something actually present......... Workers! Not only were they present but they were also working right beside the roadway in plain view with just a few pylons separating them and the vehicles traveling at 80+ kph. on both open lanes. This was even a week day and not on the week end. Can you guess what else was missing? That's right, a mobile photo radar vehicle. How could this be? How could the City be letting down the Workers by leaving them vulnerable like this? He returned again the following day on the 3rd and found the same thing happening again. He took pictures and as you can see, there is minimal signing leading up to the underpass and no speed reduction signs. Then parking where the photo radar vehicle normally parked, he took photos from that angle to display the same background as the photo radar ticket pictures. On the East side of the bridge at River Rd, the owner had taken a few photos on the first day he went through. Again not only do you have workers, they are actually using one of the lanes and appear to be asphalting. Yet there is still no speed reduction signs or warning signs on the bridge, you don't see it till you're right on top of it. No photo radar protecting these vulnerable people either. Why Not? Two days in a row! Wait, it gets better. Let's look at the day in the life of the photo radar units from the top two examples. Example #1 Instantly The Province The City Winnipeg & Area Instantly Download Them Unlimited Downloads starting at $9.99 You can see by the Comisionaire's Diagram that the area has numerous signs and flags as the road leads up to the chevrons that make the upcoming bridge a 2 way traffic flow over the bridge. When you compare the amount of signs used to prepare for two way traffic one has to wonder why this was not done to 'Protect' workers who were present at the beginning of October! Now when you look at the Photo Radar Visual Observation Log page where the vehicle owners 'offence' occurred on you see the results for frames 31 thru 60. Three of the frames were used for the 1/2 hour tuning fork tests and the rest recorded 'violations'. Twenty seven of them for that page. If you look at the speeds, 17 of them were at 80kph or lower, 9 were between 81 and 90 and One was at 93 kph. If you use this page as a reflection of the other pages for this set up, then about 2/3rds of the tickets issued were for 80 or less, almost 1/3rd for 81-90 and about one percent would have been ticketed for being over the threshold if the limit had been 80kph. The Manitoba Highway Traffic Act starts it's fine schedule 10 kph over the posted limit. You can also see that even though there is no one clearly visible, working anywhere in the area, the commisionaire has indicated construction workers are present. So if you estimate 90 infractions recorded on this day with an Average fine of $200, this translates into potential income generated of $18,000.00. Not a bad haul for 6 1/2 hours of monitoring traffic that wasn't 'Really Speeding', they just failed to lower their speed fast enough or logically though there were no workers present. Example #2 The 'Offence' occurred on a Wednesday Afternoon at 1:31 pm, according to the Photo Radar Control Sheet the commisionaire set up at 7:40am monitoring Westbound Traffic on Corydon just West of Rockwood and stayed there till 8:40am. This is a 50 kph zone and it appears in the hour the unit issued 10 violations. What I found funny about this is that the set up location is on the opposite side of the Street from Cresentwood Community Club. At a time of Day when Vulnerable Children are walking to school this set up was chosen as opposed to, St Ignatius School located 3 blocks to the east or River Heights/Brock Corydon Schools located 5-7 blocks to the West. The estimated revenue for that hour was about $2000.00 The next and last set up of the day was at Bishop Grandin and Pembina starting at 11:45pm and then staying at this location until 2:00pm. There were 44 camera frames used and when you factor in test frames that equates to approximately 38 photos of 'offences' over this period with a total of 1855 vehicles passing by. You can see by the Commissionaire's Diagram that the area is well signed again as the road leads up to the chevrons that make the upcoming bridge a 2 way traffic roadway. Now when you look at the Photo Radar Visual Observation Log page where the vehicle owners 'offence' occurred on you see the results for frames 31 thru 57. Four of the frames were used for the 1/2 hour tuning fork tests and the rest recorded 'violations'. Twenty one of them for that page. If you look at the speeds, 18 of them were at 80kph or lower and 3 were between 81 and 90. None were above 90. If you use this page as a reflection of the other page for this set up, it would add on another 16 offences for a total 37. Using an estimate shows about 7/8ths of the tickets issued were for 80 or less, and about 1/8th for 81-90. The potential revenue generated was about $7400.00 for a daily total of about $9400.00. You can also see that even though there is no difference in the back ground of the photo, as in no one clearly visible working anywhere in the area, the commisionaire has indicated construction workers are Not Present. On a Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 PM? When do they actually work? Apparently according to the above photos, I guess it was October 2nd and 3rd! So if you combine the infractions recorded on both days with an Average fine of $200, this translates into potential income generated of $27,600.00. Trafficticketguru.com gave advice to both the owners in these examples. #1 Recieved a Stay of Proceedings because the Commisionaire didn't show. (How convienient!) and #2 had a Stay of Proceedings entered because he entered on the off ramp from Pembina and didn't get to see the reduced speed sign. How Many of You Just Paid Your Tickets? How many did so because You Felt You Didn't Have A Chance? Are you Upset Yet? Still On Board, All You Photo Radar Supporters?
This article is just the tip of the iceberg, Over the next two weeks trafficticketguru.com will be revealing even more. Since the City is not being up front with their stats we are compiling examples from the court packages people send us. We ask that you please send us a copy of yours. All personal information is kept confident and as you can see from the other photos and forms, we erase personal data off them. You can either scan them and email them to; camtickets@trafficticketguru.com or scan them onto disc or make photocopies and send regular mail to; Box 7 Grp 16 RR1 East Selkirk Mb. R0E 0M0 Stand up and make your voices heard. It Time to say, 'SAM, BAN THE SCAM CAMS! Slow Down, Drive Safe and Keep Your Money in Your Pocket! Larry Stefanuik Photo Enforcement Survey
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