Alberta to delay initiative that could end the right to fight a traffic ticket
The Alberta government’s plans to introduce Phase 2 of its SafeRoads plan have been put on pause, following pushback from citizens concerned that this could put an end to the right to fight a traffic ticket.
According to a media release from the provincial government, Alberta’s court system is facing a significant backlog.
“Quite simply,” said Minister of Transportation Rajan Sawhney and Acting Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Sonya Savage in the joint statement, “that means serious criminals are getting back onto the streets because the courts are bogged down with traffic issues. This is unacceptable.”
One of the causes of this has been identified as the high number of people challenging traffic tickets in court.
The Alberta government says that more than two million traffic tickets are issued in the province each year and, of those tickets, 400,000 are challenged, resulting in more than 60,000 people receiving court dates.
This means that Alberta’s justice system dedicates 10 courtrooms per day to traffic tickets. “The traffic tickets clogging up our courts create real-world consequences for Albertans,” notes the release. “For example, many repeat offenders in the rural crime epidemic have their court dates delayed by the thousands of traffic cases crowding the courts.”
“That is not sustainable, nor is it an efficient use of our valuable court resources.”
In an effort to combat this, the provincial government introduced the SafeRoads Alberta initiative in December 2020. Phase 1 of the plan allows police forces to hand out impaired driving penalties during traffic stops, which gets impaired drivers off the streets immediately.
The approach was extremely effective: between December 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, approximately 89% of impaired driving cases have been diverted from the courts while ensuring that impaired drivers face steep and significant penalties.
“This new system has proven to be so successful at tackling the burden on our justice system that Alberta’s government has been working on a second phase – one to deal with traffic infractions like speeding and distracted driving,” reads the release.
The government says that Phase 2 of SafeRoads aims to free up police and court resources to address more serious family, civil, and criminal cases while still allowing individuals to dispute their offences, have their cases heard, and be granted extra time to pay if they need it.
However, training documents released also showed that Phase 2 included shortening the length of time drivers had to fight tickets they received to seven days, along with implementing a fee to do so. Additionally, it replaced traffic court appearances with going before an online adjudicator.
This phase was set to go into effect on February 1, 2022, and many Albertans objected to the changes.
“We have heard the concerns Albertans raised when a training document was reported on,” says the release. “It’s important that people understand the training document did not reflect what the program is and what the benefits are for Albertans.”
The government notes that it has “clearly heard” Albertans’ thoughts on traffic safety in the province, and will be pausing the rollout of Phase 2 as a result.
The Alberta government will take the next 90 to 120 days to communicate and consult with Albertans and ensure that they are educated on the changes proposed in Phase 2 of SafeRoads.
“We will listen to what Albertans have to say,” continues the release, “and we will share the benefits of these changes with them.”
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