This paper was presented at the session titled `New technologies in traffic engineering'. Strathcona County, Alberta has taken a number of initiatives to improve the safety at signalised intersections. The first installation in Alberta of a red light camera was in Strathcona County in 1998 and subsequently 5 other intersections have been added. Data shows that intersection collisions have decreased from 1.690 rate per million vehicles entering the intersection (RMVE) in 1995 to 1.475 in 1999. Since the introduction of red light cameras in 1998, the RMVE has dropped from 1.600 to 1.475. Photo radar is another means of photo enforcement that has been utilised in Strathcona County in areas of high speed, work zones, playground zones, school zones and high collision areas. Although not as well accepted by the public as the red light cameras it is believed that motorists are paying more attention to their speed. The most recent initiative, a first in North America, is to use the technology at a red light camera site to share the same high-speed camera for both enforcing the red light and monitoring the speed when vehicles are travelling through the intersection on a green or amber light. Although there is currently no legislation in place, warning notices will be issued to violators on an interim basis. The paper covers history on the red light camera and statistics relative to speeding through amber and green lights. (A)
Abstract