The radar located on the Dufferin-Montmorency highway, in Quebec, surprises on average 206 drivers per day since its installation less than a year ago, which is much more than all the other devices in the province.
The machine is so lucrative that it brings in on average more than $29,000 daily for the State, twice as much as the second most active, located in Mirabel.
At least this is what we see when comparing the latest data updated by the Ministry of Justice, dated December 31, 2023 and obtained by TVA Nouvelles.
“Obviously, it was installed in a place where it was absolutely necessary,” observes André Durocher, road safety expert at CAA-Quebec.
This photo radar has brought in more than $9.6 million for the government since its commissioning in February 2023 with the issuance of more than 68,000 tickets.
Four people from the same family died at this intersection on September 2, 2021.
Archive photo, QMI Agency (Guy Martel)
The fixed speed cameras located on Highway 15 South, in Mirabel, and at the intersection of Boulevard Charest Ouest and Avenue Saint-Sacrement, in Quebec, come in second and third position in this regard.
For comparison, they have given an average of 109 and 73 infraction notices respectively each day since they took office. They also raise $14,130 and $7,959 daily thanks to these.
Not a panacea
Remember that the installation of the device on the Dufferin-Montmorency highway last February followed the tragedy which cost the lives of four people at this intersection, in September 2021.
It is located near Boulevard François-de-Laval, where the speed increases from 100 km/h to 70 km/h over a few hundred meters, due to a traffic light.
“For a consequence to be dissuasive, there must be as little time as possible between the offense and the sanction. However, this is the problem with speed cameras, whose fines are sent several weeks later,” underlines Mr. Durocher.
The latter also emphasizes that a driver will never obtain a demerit point with a radar, unlike when he is stopped by a police officer, because we cannot prove who was at the wheel.
“Radars are only a complementary measure, they cannot be used alone to hope to change behavior,” he adds.
A message to repeat
The road safety expert believes that the situation should, however, improve over time on the Dufferin-Montmorency highway, as is the case for many speed cameras in Quebec.
The device has handed out an average of 206 fines every day since its installation in February 2023.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
“People who receive tickets become road safety ambassadors in spite of themselves, by telling their family that they received a fine at this or that place,” explains Mr. Durocher.
“Education is repeating a message over and over again. In the last decade, the road safety record has improved year after year thanks to this,” he emphasizes.
