Sometimes government runs into trouble purely as a result of circumstances beyond its control. But other times, such as the case with the current controversy surrounding photo radar in Manitoba construction zones, it has no one to blame but itself.
The use of photo radar in construction zones was always intended to be about protecting workers. Construction workers are exposed on the worksite to additional risk because they are so close to thousands of vehicles that pass them every day. Both the letter and the spirit of the law that allows photo radar on construction sites indicates that it was supposed to be used to ensure workers were protected and that people were slowing down when passing workers.
Last year that changed when mobile units carrying photo radar started showing up at construction sites at night, on weekends and even on holidays when no construction was happening and when no workers were present. Instead of photo radar being used to protect workers it seemed that it was being used to simply trap confused motorists and to raise money. And it did.
While there were just 3,000 photo radar tickets issued in 2007 in construction zones (when it was only used when workers were onsite) that number skyrocketed to 60,000 tickets in 2008 when photo radar started to be used at construction sites when there were no workers.
The reason for the jump is obvious. Most drivers drove the regular posted speed limit instead of the reduced speed limit past construction sites because they believed that the reduced speed limit was only in effect when there were construction workers present. And last month, a Manitoba court said that they were right, that the law in Manitoba clearly is that when there are no construction workers at a construction zone the regular speed limit applies.
For the thousands of people who received tickets and who the court said should never have received those tickets because they were driving the legal speed limit, this was a victory. But it may have only been a moral victory. That’s because the NDP government, which collected millions of dollars from the wrongful tickets, isn’t sure it wants to return the money. While the NDP Minister of Justice agrees that the tickets should never have been issued, he says that giving back the money wouldn’t be an easy thing to do.
While there is no doubt the NDP would rather keep the money than return it, the reality is that they have no one to blame other than themselves for this mess. When the number of tickets began to increase from 2007 to 2008 by 2000%, somebody in the Department of Justice must have noticed. The issue of using photo radar in construction zones when there were no workers has been in the news for months and has elicited significant public concern. It had even become the subject of a court challenge. Surely the Minister of Justice should have, at that time, asked about the number of tickets being issue and could have dealt with the problem at an early stage.
Now the court says these tickets should never have been issued and the money should never have been collected. It remains to be seen whether the NDP believe in the principle of justice more than they believe in keeping money they should never have received.
