Handwritten traffic tickets could be replaced by e-tickets on P.E.I.

The P.E.I. government is looking at the idea of allowingelectronic ticketing for police agencies across the province. This would be instead of handwritten tickets.

The idea is to improve safety for officers and to reduce errors.

Police vehicles would be equipped with electronic readers, in whicha driver's licence could be directly inserted.

All of the information from birth date to driver restrictions would go directly into the reader,then a ticket with the charge and court date would be printed off.

Fewer errors, improved safety

Officials with the province said that in jurisdictions where this is already being done, errors have been essentially eliminated.

The new system could also make things safer for officers.

According to officials, writing one ticket currently takes about 10 to 12 minutes. Under electronic ticketing the time would be reduced to three and a half minutes, meaning officers would need to spend less time pulled over on the side of the road.

The province did not give atimeline for introducing the electronictickets on P.E.I. Officials said they are working onthe design.

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