The Island Hwy/Norwell/Bowen Rd. intersection is home to a red light camera which captured 266 violators in 2021. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

automated fines

Intersection safety cameras see rise in violators in Nanaimo and across B.C.

May 31, 2022 | 5:26 AM

NANAIMO — Nearly 800 tickets from automated cameras were mailed to motorists either speeding or running a red light at one of two Nanaimo high crash intersections last year.

Data from the ministry of transportation and infrastructure showed 767 violations last year from the Island Hwy. at Aulds Rd./Hammond Bay intersection and Island Highway at Norwell Dr./Bowen Rd.

Vancouver Island’s only speed camera, overseeing the Island Hwy. and Aulds Rd., recorded 398 violators since the device began operating in Sep. 2020.

Unveiling the north Nanaimo speed camera was delayed by the province in order for motorists to adjust to a 10 kilometere per hour speed reduction to 70 kilometres per hour through the area.

While violations in Nanaimo under the province’s intersection safety initiative climbed by 28 per cent last year, the numbers were skewed upward by the first full year of enforcement from the north end speed camera.

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The number of motorists ignoring red lights at the two marked Nanaimo intersections dropped by 11 per cent last year to 435 compared to data in 2020.

Notably, drivers appear to be more cautious not to blow through a red light at the Island Hwy – Norwell Dr./Bowen Rd. intersection where violators steadily declined from 531 in 2019 to 266 last year.

Province-wide speed and red light cameras produced more than 113,000 tickets last year, up from nearly 96,000 fines during the height of COVID health restrictions in 2020.

The fastest vehicle speed captured in the province last year by an intersection safety camera was 181 kilometres per hour in a 60 kilometre per hour zone.

The cameras are in place at 140 high-crash intersections around B.C., with 105 equipped to catch red light violators and 35 handling both red light violators and speed monitoring.

Speed thresholds required to produce tickets at the monitored intersections are not revealed by the province.

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ian@nanaimonesnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes