Cameras designed to catch drivers speeding through intersections may be coming to Halifax.
The city’s Transportation Standing Committee is working on a staff report looking into the cost and benefits of red light cameras.
“There's unfortunately no shortage of dangerous intersections in halifax where we can put some of (the cameras),” says councillor Shawn Cleary.
The cameras have been tried in municipalities across the country, with mixed reviews. Cleary wonders whether they'd make Halifax intersections safer.
“Connaught and Bayers, very heavily trafficked. A lot of accidents on a regular basis. It would be a perfect opportunity to put cameras there,” says Cleary.
Dalhousie professor Ahsan Habib says data shows about 41 per cent of collisions happen in intersections, with 36 per cent of them involving some sort of speeding.
“Looking at red light camera is a good option because we know these are prime reasons for collisions, major injuries and fatalities,” says Habib.
The idea gets mixed reviews on the street.
“There’s a lot of people going through red lights. They'll slow down and then at the last moment they'll gun it and pedestrians are standing there and it's just a travesty waiting to happen,” says one resident.
“Why can't we just take responsibility for ourselves and stop when we're supposed to? Yellow doesn't mean speed up, it means slow down,” says another resident.
The technology has been on the books for 11 years, but council never followed through with it. It's ultimately the Nova Scotia government that gets to give the green light to red light cameras. They say they need some serious interest from a municipality in order to make it happen.
Research puts the cost of the cameras about $100,000 per intersection. Cleary is expecting the staff report to come back in the fall.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
