PRESS RELEASE
WiseUp Winnipeg will be hosting a public event on Saturday October 10th at the southwest greenspace corner of Bishop Grandin & St. Mary’s Rd, from 1pm – 2pm to give away 1,000 information placards for the purpose of raising public awareness of Photo Radar Enforcement including how this so-called safety program in fact makes our roads and intersections more dangerous.
WiseUp Winnipeg is the effort of two local citizens to educate Winnipeggers on the facts of photo radar enforcement – including the false claim that the program has had a positive impact on safety in the City of Winnipeg.
Larry Stefanuik is a retired Police Constable (Winnipeg Police Service - Traffic Division). Larry has, for more than a year, openly disputed the photo-radar enforcement positions taken by the City and Province, showing rather that the program is a detriment to safety and is purely a revenue program. By using Low Speed Thresholds, Inadequate Amber Times and Inadequate Signage , the program sets up motorists and produces “violations”.
Todd Dube is a Winnipeg businessman who shares Mr. Stefanuik’s motivation to inform the public of the facts and history of photo radar enforcement. Mr. Dube provided for the cost of the awareness placards. “To me photo-radar represents more than just the cash-grab that it certainly is – it’s also symbolic of how far we’ve let our governments and bureaucracies run amok. Our politicians and police should be ashamed of themselves for employing the word “safety” in their notional pursuit of fundraising from vehicle owners. We hope citizens wise up and question this whole program including how it is that we listen endlessly to politicians talk about complexities, legislation and other obstructions that impede them from making real progress on issues, including real public safety issues, yet a few can get together on a Friday night and change the wording of the law so that not only can this fundraising scheme continue – it also doesn’t have to refund its ill-gotten gains. Larry has been ignored by the establishment long enough and it’s time the public delivered the message that ignoring the facts is no longer an option. They cannot support their claim of improved safety, which is required for the programs’ continued existence and it’s time they answered on it.”
Mr. Stefanuik has presented qualified research to the attention of City Councillors and Provincial MLA’s. This research discredits the leading report used by camera companies to sell photo radar enforcement and reveals that adding one second to the amber light time virtually eliminates red light violations, speeding through the intersection and brings a high reduction to all types of intersection collisions. The research proves that an inadequate amber length creates a Dilemma Zone. This Zone causes motorists to make a split second decision to either brake hard (risking rear end collision), maintain speed (risking violation within the 1st second of the signal change) or accelerate to get through and risk momentarily rising above a low speed threshold setting. This Dilemma Zone is the main contributor to violations and rear-end collisions. It is estimated that 80% of red light tickets issued occur within a fraction of the first second of the signal change to red. This first second is not a factor in collisions, as both signal directions are red for one second.
Mr. Stefanuik has exampled the case of a 64 year old Grandmother who was driving 11 kph under the speed limit when she entered an intersection with an inadequate amber time of 3.9 seconds. Due to aged signals, the amber time is frequently lower than the City of Winnipeg minimum standard of 4.0 seconds. In this case, the Grandmother entered the intersection during the first 10th of a second of it being red. Had the Amber been set at the City stated minimum, she would not have received a ticket. How many other motorists have been wronged in this fashion? With intersection lengths ranging from 40’ to 70’, it is neither logical nor reasonable to have all Ambers set at 4.0 seconds (or less).
Other jurisdictions that have adopted the extra second, or were forced by legislation to adopt it, saw an average 80% reduction in tickets and a 50% - 80% reduction in all collisions. Most cities removed their cameras due to a lack of revenue and were actually losing money trying to catch the hazardous ‘red light runner’.
We challenge the City to start adopting real methods of making our streets safer and suggest that they should immediately apply the widely known and available research conclusions and add a mere second to the top two violation-producing cameras in the City - and let the results speak for themselves!
The City should also implement traffic softening methods near playgrounds, school yards and Construction zones.
Photo Enforcement is the least effective means of making streets safer yet it is the one most relied on in Winnipeg.
Larry Stefanuik challenges the Mayor, the Premier, the Provincial Justice Minister and the Chief of Police to have an open, public debate with him on the facts of photo radar. Mr. Stefanuik will attend any media venue for that purpose – with one or all of these parties attending.
Below is the front and back of the placards to be given away to the public.
Also visit www.wiseupwinnipeg.com for further details along with downloadable copies of dilemma zone research and other pertinent documents and reports.
For further information, questions or interviews - contact Larry Stefanuik at 781-9929 or email to larry@trafficticketguru.com
WiseUp Winnipeg will be hosting a public event on Saturday October 10th at the southwest greenspace corner of Bishop Grandin & St. Mary’s Rd, from 1pm – 2pm to give away 1,000 information placards for the purpose of raising public awareness of Photo Radar Enforcement including how this so-called safety program in fact makes our roads and intersections more dangerous.
WiseUp Winnipeg is the effort of two local citizens to educate Winnipeggers on the facts of photo radar enforcement – including the false claim that the program has had a positive impact on safety in the City of Winnipeg.
Larry Stefanuik is a retired Police Constable (Winnipeg Police Service - Traffic Division). Larry has, for more than a year, openly disputed the photo-radar enforcement positions taken by the City and Province, showing rather that the program is a detriment to safety and is purely a revenue program. By using Low Speed Thresholds, Inadequate Amber Times and Inadequate Signage , the program sets up motorists and produces “violations”.
Todd Dube is a Winnipeg businessman who shares Mr. Stefanuik’s motivation to inform the public of the facts and history of photo radar enforcement. Mr. Dube provided for the cost of the awareness placards. “To me photo-radar represents more than just the cash-grab that it certainly is – it’s also symbolic of how far we’ve let our governments and bureaucracies run amok. Our politicians and police should be ashamed of themselves for employing the word “safety” in their notional pursuit of fundraising from vehicle owners. We hope citizens wise up and question this whole program including how it is that we listen endlessly to politicians talk about complexities, legislation and other obstructions that impede them from making real progress on issues, including real public safety issues, yet a few can get together on a Friday night and change the wording of the law so that not only can this fundraising scheme continue – it also doesn’t have to refund its ill-gotten gains. Larry has been ignored by the establishment long enough and it’s time the public delivered the message that ignoring the facts is no longer an option. They cannot support their claim of improved safety, which is required for the programs’ continued existence and it’s time they answered on it.”
Mr. Stefanuik has presented qualified research to the attention of City Councillors and Provincial MLA’s. This research discredits the leading report used by camera companies to sell photo radar enforcement and reveals that adding one second to the amber light time virtually eliminates red light violations, speeding through the intersection and brings a high reduction to all types of intersection collisions. The research proves that an inadequate amber length creates a Dilemma Zone. This Zone causes motorists to make a split second decision to either brake hard (risking rear end collision), maintain speed (risking violation within the 1st second of the signal change) or accelerate to get through and risk momentarily rising above a low speed threshold setting. This Dilemma Zone is the main contributor to violations and rear-end collisions. It is estimated that 80% of red light tickets issued occur within a fraction of the first second of the signal change to red. This first second is not a factor in collisions, as both signal directions are red for one second.
Mr. Stefanuik has exampled the case of a 64 year old Grandmother who was driving 11 kph under the speed limit when she entered an intersection with an inadequate amber time of 3.9 seconds. Due to aged signals, the amber time is frequently lower than the City of Winnipeg minimum standard of 4.0 seconds. In this case, the Grandmother entered the intersection during the first 10th of a second of it being red. Had the Amber been set at the City stated minimum, she would not have received a ticket. How many other motorists have been wronged in this fashion? With intersection lengths ranging from 40’ to 70’, it is neither logical nor reasonable to have all Ambers set at 4.0 seconds (or less).
Other jurisdictions that have adopted the extra second, or were forced by legislation to adopt it, saw an average 80% reduction in tickets and a 50% - 80% reduction in all collisions. Most cities removed their cameras due to a lack of revenue and were actually losing money trying to catch the hazardous ‘red light runner’.
We challenge the City to start adopting real methods of making our streets safer and suggest that they should immediately apply the widely known and available research conclusions and add a mere second to the top two violation-producing cameras in the City - and let the results speak for themselves!
The City should also implement traffic softening methods near playgrounds, school yards and Construction zones.
Photo Enforcement is the least effective means of making streets safer yet it is the one most relied on in Winnipeg.
Larry Stefanuik challenges the Mayor, the Premier, the Provincial Justice Minister and the Chief of Police to have an open, public debate with him on the facts of photo radar. Mr. Stefanuik will attend any media venue for that purpose – with one or all of these parties attending.
Below is the front and back of the placards to be given away to the public.
Also visit www.wiseupwinnipeg.com for further details along with downloadable copies of dilemma zone research and other pertinent documents and reports.
For further information, questions or interviews - contact Larry Stefanuik at 781-9929 or email to larry@trafficticketguru.com
