Photo radar cameras could help slow traffic, says incoming St. John's mayor

The incoming mayor of St. John's says it's time to look at new ways to get drivers to slow down in residential neighbourhoods.

I think the time has come to use that technology.- Danny Breen

Danny Breensays the city does the best it can to calm traffic, but recognizes there will always areas that could use more attention.

He said photo radar cameras, also known as traffic enforcement cameras, could make a difference.

Traffic enforcement cameras take pictures of vehicles going over the speed limit, so that drivers can be ticketed or charged without needing actual police officers in the area to pull them over.

The devices are not currently used in Newfoundland and Labrador, though digital traffic feedback signs are used in St. John's and other towns to warn drivers they are speeding and to provide traffic statistics to municipal officials.

"I believe it's time the province look at photo radar.I think the time has come to use that technology," Breen told the St. John's Morning Show.

"I don't believe the legislation covers it but I think it's something that we're going to have to look at in the future."

Efforts to allow St. John's to use photo radar received a cool response in the House of Assembly back in 2013, with then-Service NL minister Paul Davis pointing out the high cost of installing the devices.

No guarantees

Breen's comments come after a mother's call for reducedspeed limits in the Southlands neighbourhood, after her 6-year-old son was struck by a car Tuesday evening. RNC said speed was not a factor in that collision.

He said as a councillor,traffic-related issues were the Number 1thing he got calls about. He said while the city does installtraffic calming measures on different residential streetson a priority basis, having a lower speed limit doesn't guarantee thatpeople will slow down.

"We haven't found that, through our expertise and our traffic department, that lowering the speed limit will lower the speed," he said.