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Nanaimo’s two red-light cameras now working 24/7

Aug 9, 2018 | 12:40 PM

Nanaimo’s two red-light cameras are now working around the clock to catch dangerous drivers.

The cameras, on the Island Hwy. at Aulds Rd. and at Norwell Dr., are now active 24-hours-a-day. They were previously only used in six-hour shifts daily.

“For too long, cameras with a proven record of curbing red-light runners and the serious crashes they cause were not operating at full capacity,” Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said. “The full activation of these cameras is overdue and an important step for safety on some of our busiest roadways.”

The province announced the transition to increased monitoring in September of last year but the 24-hour change wasn’t put into effect until the end of July.

The two red-light cameras in Nanaimo are among only six on all of Vancouver Island and were installed in 2011.

ICBC data provided to NanaimoNewsNOW showed 423 tickets were issued in 2016, 271 of which happened at the Norwell intersection.

ICBC’s online crash map shows the Island Hwy.-Norwell intersection averaged 60 crashes per year between 2011 and 2015, the most of any Nanaimo intersection, and had the most crashes resulting in injury or fatality.

As well as working longer hours, the cameras will soon be targeting another type of dangerous driving. The government said they will add technology to ticket speeders moving through intersections. It’s unclear at this point if Nanaimo’s cameras will be a part of that program.

 

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