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'We're not Big Brother' Cameras at intersection of Norseman Drive and Franklin Avenue to improve flow of traffic: city
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, June 21, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The appearance of cameras at the intersection of Norseman Drive and Franklin Avenue on Wednesday has motorists questioning what the city is planning to use them for.
The city has put cameras at the intersection of Norseman Drive and Franklin Avenue to monitor traffic flow. The city says data from the cameras will be used to improve the frequency of traffic light changes at the intersection. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
"What's up with that?" tweeted one resident with a link to a photo of the cameras.
According to public works manager Chris Greencorn, the cameras were installed to collect data on the flow of traffic at the intersection. More specifically, they will detect the presence of vehicles waiting for a green light.
"They will detect and count traffic," said Greencorn. "We use traffic counts for tonnes of things - there's timing the lights, or co-ordination with lights further down the road."
Greencorn said he has been asked whether the cameras can store recorded video. He said that while it was possible, the video is currently programmed to be converted to statistical data, which can then be analyzed and used by the city's administration.
"Let's say 15,000 cars passed there today. It'll store that data as just numbers, but it's not storing any video," he said.
"People think they're being watched, but trust me that's not what we want to do. We're not Big Brother."
Greencorn said in order to store recorded video, the city would need a faster communications network, as well as increased back-end server capability, or another city facility that can store the information.
"We don't have any of those things yet," he said "I think that's a luxury item."
Greencorn added that even if the city had the capabilities to store video data, it would not be able to use it to hand out tickets based on that information.
"We can't enforce red light infractions or speed infractions in the territories, because there's no legislation for it," he said.
"There's no legislation from the territorial government that allows us to hand out video speeding tickets."
Greencorn said the technology is a lot more useful for data collection than older wire loops, which are currently used to arrange traffic lights. He said because they are dug under the asphalt they are prone to damage and because they're sensors they can be thrown off by a number of factors. The cameras are an upgrade on existing microwave technology used at the intersection of Woolgar Road and Kam Lake Road.
Greencorn said the technology is a lot cheaper than it used to be.
"When I first started at the city, it was $125,000 per intersection," he said.
The city has budgeted $25,000 for cameras at the intersection, although Greencorn said he expects the project will come in under budget. The city's budget had originally included $75,000 dollars for cameras at three intersection, however, city council cut the budget, leaving the one intersection to run as a pilot project.
"We're running a pilot project at the moment to see how successful it can be," said Greencorn.
"That was a problem intersection. We always had a problem with people coming out of Norseman from Northland."
Greencorn said if the project is successful, city administration will look into including more cameras in next years budget.
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