Traffic tickets are going high tech in Nova Scotia later this year.

The RCMP have been working for more than five years to develop an electronic ticketing system, which they hope will save time and money in policing.

"To give you some idea, if it takes 15 minutes to handwrite a ticket, we'd like to see it get down to half that," says national e-ticketing co-ordinator Cpl. Doug Brannen.

Officers will hand out an e-ticket in place of a written one under the new system. They will be able to process traffic violations from their vehicle, swipe the violators licence and that information will then feed directly to their records management.

The information is then checked, the charge added, and the ticket printed out. A copy of the ticket will then be sent to the courts. Under the current system, this process can take weeks.

One driver interviewed by CTV Atlantic is happy about the high-tech change.

"It should speed things up," says motorist Alastair Trower. "Less time doing paperwork on their part, which means they can spend more time out doing what they should be doing."

The new system is also expected to boost justice system efficiency. The electronic tickets will help to eliminate errors which can lead to charges being dismissed.

"I think the less errors on the ticket, the better," says motorist Vanessa Bourbonniere. "I think that's how a lot of people get out of it, but if it's going to save the government money, why not?"

But some are concerned that the system's efficiency may lead officers to hand out more tickets.

"Officers give very few breaks to people," says Len Eastoe, a spokesman for Traffic Ticket Experts in Winnipeg. "It's just pound off the numbers so that you hand out as many tickets in a day as an officer can. This will definitely speed that up."

But Brannen says the new e-system is not about issuing more tickets. He says it's about improving road safety.

"If we can limit the amount of time our officers spend with one violator, that gives them more time to patrol the roads and cut down on hazardous behaviour we're witnessing from day to day," he says.

The next step in the project is to install card readers and printers in police vehicles.

The pilot project will launch in Nova Scotia in the next eight months. Once it's running smoothly, it will be rolled out across the country.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jill Matthews