Drivers beware: mobile photo radar gets rolling

Drivers beware: 17 new moveable photo-radar systems are ready to nab speeders starting today on Montreal'ssouth shore, as well as inQuebec City and Gatineau.

The new mobile radar trucks can be shiftedfrom place to place,which shouldmake it difficult for driversto predict their location.

• Quebec photo radar map

Another 19stationary models will be installed throughout the provincewithin a month, all equippedto automatically detect scofflaws who drive too fast or barrel through red lights.

The 36 new units will be shifted around129 locations across the province, including a pair that will be moved about in six locations on the South Shore.

Many machines will be controlled by SQ provincial police, while some others will be managed by municipal police forces in Longueuil,Laval, Gatineau and Quebec City as part of an 18-month pilot project.

The decision to install more of the devices comes as a response to complaints of excessive speeding, according to TransportQuebec representativeGuillaume Paradis.

"In Quebec City, it was decided to increase the totalto get people to try to slow down. We were looking to install them at places where people were complaining of speeding on their streets," he said.

Provincial Transport Minister Robert Poti has said that speeding has decreased by 59 per cent in areas where photo radar has been installed, while the devices have reduced the numberof people driving through red lights by 80 per cent.