This story is like an onion and every time you peel off a layer, there’s an even stinkier layer underneath.
First off, allow me to voice my hatred of photo radars. If a cop sees you driving above the speed limit, they consider a few factors before pulling you over and ticketing you. They check your speed to make sure you’re not going too far above the limit.
They can see if you’re driving like a madman or if you’re just safely keeping up with traffic. And sometimes just the sight of a cop car is enough to make you slow down. There’s no need to take money out of the pocket of every driver who goes a little faster than the speed limit.
But with photo radars, you’re just fucked.
Second, photo radar traps don’t work, they just train driver to avoid them. For example there is a radar trap on east-bound Cote-des-Neiges just passed The Boulevard. And what happens is all the cars drive their normal speeds until they reach the radar. Then they all slow down spontaneously (and dangerously) for a few meters and once they pass the radar, everyone speeds back up suddenly (Which is also dangerous).
So photo radars don’t make the streets any safer.
Third, the city is spending $30,000,000 to get more photo radars and they didn’t even allow other companies to bid for the contract. They gave the contract to a firm called CGI even though two other firms were offering to do the contract at half the cost.
The other firms were curious as to why they’re were considered “unqualified” so the Quebec government will be holding a meeting with the firms to give them an explanation. Only they aren’t allowing any reporters to cover this meeting. This seems suspicious because if the firms are truly unqualified then the government should have nothing to hide.
There’s no reason why the public shouldn’t be allowed to know why we are spending twice as much as we need to purchase devices that will ultimately be used to take money out of your pocket for driving a few kilometers faster than the posted speed limit, which is already unreasonably low.
Is that it? Did I get all the stinky layers?
