Grande Prairie Committed to Improving Traffic Safety Since 2014

Grande Prairie Committed to Improving Traffic Safety Since 2014

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The City of Grande Prairie is proud to have already incorporated into practice many of the guidelines announced by the Government of Alberta on February 21, 2019.

The City of Grande Prairie has seen proven results on the success of Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) and a noticeable change in driver behaviour shown by a reduction in violations. An example of ATE’s success is at the intersection of 100 Street and 132 Avenue Northbound where 1682 violations took place in 2016 compared to just 271 in 2018. 

In 2014, the City adopted the Safe City Roads Action Plan as a result of increasing traffic safety concerns within Grande Prairie. The goal of the Safe City Roads Action Plan was to reduce the number of collisions resulting in injury in the City. In the last three years alone, the City of Grande Prairie has seen a 45% decrease in injury collisions.

The current ATE contract term ends on May 31, 2020 and authorizes the following photo enforcement activities:

  • Up to 126 hours per week of speed enforcement
  • UP to 15 hours per week of stop sign enforcement
  • Up to 15 hours per week of mobile red light enforcement

It is important to note the City or ATE contractor does not set speed tolerances, or which locations are authorized ATE sites. These are both determined by the RCMP. The ATE contractor can only perform enforcement at one of 142 authorized sites. The Province sets the fine amounts under the Traffic Safety Act. Currently, fines are distributed 39.71% to the Government of Alberta, and 60.29% to the City of Grande Prairie. 

In the City of Grande Prairie:

  • Over the past three years, the total number of injury collisions decreased by 45% and the total number of property damage collisions decreased by 27%
  • City of Grande Prairie experienced an increase in traffic volumes of 13% between 2014 to 2017
  • Revenue collected from ATE enforcement has steadily decreased since implementation
  • From 2017 to 2018, revenue decreased by 13.9% or $457,705
  • In 2017 revenue was $3,288,895 and in 2018 revenue was $2,831,190
  • The City currently only has 6 fixed Intersection Safety Devices, such as red light cameras, with an additional 4 ready to install if needed.
  • School and playground zone ATE deployments account for over 40% of all the ATE enforcement hours.
  • Out-of-town registered vehicles account for 48% of the speeding violations and 44% of the intersection violations.
  • No ATE speeding tickets were issued in the City of Grande Prairie to a vehicle travelling 9 km/h or less over the posted speed limit.
  • Through initiatives such as the opening of the Collision Reporting Centre in September 2018, the City of Grande Prairie is and continues to be committed to building a community that is safe for all residents and visitors.