WELLINGTON COUNTY – The police services board has approved the Wellington OPP to purchase new radar detection devices to tackle widespread traffic complaints.
Staff Sgt. Darryl Porterfield from the traffic management unit made a presentation to the police services board Wednesday explaining the steps taken in response to traffic complaints.
He said driving complaints in the county take up much of the traffic management unit’s time.
At the previous day’s roads committee meeting, many mayors and councillors also said traffic complaints are the number one thing they hear about from residents.
The roads committee expressed a desire to work with the OPP to take a widespread approach to tackle the rising complaints about traffic issues.
Porterfield said the goal is to develop long-term solutions with community and municipal partners that go beyond pulling speeders over.
“We have to recognize that traditional traffic enforcement is one small part of the solution,” Porterfield said. “You have to take a multi-faceted approach that goes beyond traditional methods.”
A major component to this is proper data collection about speeds and number of vehicles on particular roads to ensure they enforce in the right areas.
The Wellington OPP detachment has three speed spys which can collect this data but Porterfield said they are reaching the end of their usable life.
The other issue is that the municipal and public demand far exceeds the supply. Porterfield said they have 50 to 60 active traffic complaint areas encompassing all the municipalities on a variety of road types.
The OPP brought forward a new device called the Black Cat Radar Detection Device which is more reliable, collects better data and usable all seasons.
These devices can count the number of vehicles on both sides of the roads and even determine vehicle type, which is something the speed spys are unable to do. They are also able to collect up to three weeks of data compared to two to three with the speed spys.
They stressed that updating their radar detection would allow them to better determine if excessive speed is an issue and can better deploy their resources and assist in municipal traffic calming measures.
Wellington OPP asked for seven Black Cat devices at a cost of approximately $4,000 apiece.
The board unanimously approved this purchase.
