June 7, 2001 — Le Protecteur du citoyen

Photo radar: the Québec Ombudsman recommends the Transport Minister reconsiders the bill.

Québec City, June 7, 2001 - The Québec Ombudsman, Ms Pauline Champoux-Lesage, has handed over recommendations to the Transport Minister concerning Bill 17 which amends the Highway Safety Code and the Code of Penal Procedure and would allow use of the photo radar.

The Québec Ombudsman's first observations are that the bill being a worthy pursuit in itself by aiming to reduce speed on the Québec Highway system, does not penalise the driver but the owner of the vehicle, the latter not having any legal means to recover the payment of fines when he is not responsible for the speeding offence.

Provision for the Highway Safety Code presently specifies that a driver of a vehicle is held personally responsible for violations of speed limits, while the bill provides for owner responsibility in the case of photo radar violations. It's easy to imagine how innocent vehicle owners will be annoyed by such legislation: having to pay heavy fines, having to identify and find the guilty drivers, having to prove the latter are responsible for the offence without witnesses and make them pay the fines willingly.

Still, the bill provides for no demerit points on the records of drivers caught for speeding by a photo radar, nor for any jail sentence in the case of unpaid fines under the new system. The fact is that certain drivers obey speed limits for only one reason: demerit points. Accordingly, two systems will rule speeding violations: some drivers will register demerit while others will not.

Moreover, the Transport Minister has declared that photo radars would be used in areas where speeding is potentially more hazardous. Does it mean that speeding in more hazardous areas will entail less penalty for drivers?

Furthermore, fine collectors would be allowed to ask the Société de l'assurance automobile to suspend a driver's licence when a fine involving a photo radar violation has not been paid. Ultimately, a driver's licence could be suspended following the offence of a third party who refuses to pay a fine.

According to the Québec Ombudsman, what the bill is proposing is an easy solution for administration at the expense of vehicle owners' rights.

She therefore recommends that Transport Minister review Bill 17 and proposes different ways to achieve the sought out objective.

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