Since the province activated its latest batch of speed cameras in February, more have begun taking pictures that are mailed to registered owners of vehicles recorded as speeding. B.C. has 140 intersection cameras in total, with all but 35 of them issuing tickets for running red lights only.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says there are no plans to expand the speed enforcement program beyond the 35 locations now identified. All 140 intersection cameras are operating 24 hours a day since their operating hours were extended in 2018.
Since B.C. activated its first five automated speed enforcement cameras at the end of July 2019, the ministry says the program has issued nearly 20,000 speeding tickets. It posts statistics quarterly, showing about 20,000 red light tickets every three months for all 140 intersection cameras, with 7,353 speeding tickets mailed out from October to December 2019 as more cameras were activated for speeding.
This is what the automatic speeding ticket looks like when it comes in the mail #bcleg #bcpoli #ICBC pic.twitter.com/sKDHAwP90q
— Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc) April 1, 2020
The highest recorded speed by an intersection camera so far was in the summer of 2019, with a driver clocked at 174 km/h in an 80 zone. Intersection cameras takes a picture of the infraction and a close-up of the vehicle licence plate, stamped with time and date and reproduced on the ticket.
When the program was expanded last year, Farnworth declined to specify what the triggering speed is for a ticket, saying only that it is substantially over the posted speed limit.
BC Public Safety Min @mikefarnworthbc won’t say what speed will trigger #photoradar tickets from intersection cameras #Bcleg #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/zyEjGXVtyW
— Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc) May 8, 2019
The first location on Vancouver Island to send out tickets for speeding as well as red-light running is in Nanaimo, on Island Highway at Aulds Road, but its activation for speeding is delayed until mid-September.
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“This grace period is to allow drivers time to adjust to a recent reduction of the speed limit on the highway there, to 70 km/h from 80 km/h,” the ministry said in a statement. “This site remains activated for red-light enforcement.”
Speed-activated cameras in B.C. as of April 1: (see here for all intersection camera locations)
• Kelowna: Harvey Avenue at Cooper Road, Highway 97 North at Banks Road
• Abbotsford: Route 11 at Lonzo Road
• Langley: 200 Street at 64 Avenue, Route 10 at Fraser Highway
• Surrey: 152 Street at King George Boulevard, 128 Street at 88 Avenue, 152 Street at 96 Avenue, 64 Avenue at 152 Street, 96 Avenue at 132 Street, King George Boulevard at 104 Avenue, King George Boulevard at 80 Avenue
• Maple Ridge: Lougheed Highway at 207th Avenue
• Pitt Meadows: Lougheed Highway at Old Dewdney Trunk Road
• Port Coquitlam: Lougheed Highway at Shaughnessy Street
• Coquitlam: Barnet Highway at Mariner Way
• Delta: Nordel Way at 84th Avenue
• Burnaby: Kingsway at Boundary Road, Kingsway at Royal Oak Avenue, Willingdon Avenue at Deer Lake
• Richmond: Garden City Road at Cambie Road
• North Vancouver: Marine Drive at Capilano Road
• Vancouver: Boundary Road at East 49 Avenue, East Hastings at Main Street, East Hastings at Renfrew Street, Grandview Highway at Rupert Street, Granville Streeet at West King Edward Avenue, Kingsway at Joyce, Kingsway at Victoria Drive, Knight Street at East 33 Avenue, Oak Street at West 57 Avenue, Oak Street at 70 Avenue, Southeast Marine Drive at Kerr, West Georgia at Cardero Street
• Nanaimo: Island Highway at Aulds Road (Delayed until mid-September 2020)
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