Bolstad speeding plan won't work
By KERRY DIOTTE -- For the Edmonton Sun

It is a good thing Ward 2 Coun. Allan Bolstad is retiring after his latest three-year term ends this October.

That's because he is getting seriously annoying. (Not that he wasn't annoying before.) Bolstad, first elected in 1992, will be best remembered for his dogged support of the city's draconian smoking and cat bylaws.

But the councillor who began his career as slightly right of centre and became left-leaning is bound and determined to go out with a meddlesome bang.

His latest would-be bit of socialist social engineering (is there any other kind?) is to reduce the speed limits on residential streets from 50 kmh to 40 kmh - a move that would all but turn our pothole-pocked roads into parking lots.

In April, Bolstad began his push for the ridiculously low speed limits. This week he argued that drivers going more than 50 kmh were causing a hazard to kids and others who play on or near streets "chasing after soccer balls and not looking."

Luckily, there does not appear to be any real support for Bolstad's fuddy-duddy desires. An administration report this week to council's transportation and streets committee said that speeding in residential areas is not considered a big problem. Most crashes happen on busy roads.

But those words from officials did not dampen Bolstad's lust to attack a problem that seemingly does not exist.

He vowed to begin reporting speeders on residential streets and badgering cops to set up radar traps there.

What's more, if Bolstad got his way, police in residential areas would hand out tickets to drivers going only a few kilometres over the posted 50-kmh limit. Cops now allow a 14-kmh over-the-limit tolerance level.

"Set radar to start ticketing people as soon as they start hitting 52, 53, 54 (kmh)," he told Sun city hall reporter Andrea Sands.

"I'll look forward to getting photo radar installed on a temporary basis. Put it here for a week, put it there for a week, see if we can address speeding that way."

Bolstad's brash desires are completely out to lunch for several reasons.

Motorists in Edmonton are already arguably the most heavily targeted in North America by photo radar and laser radar.

In 2001 alone, city police issued 194,500 speeding tickets. Photo radar and red-light cameras raise about $14 million annually.

Despite this heavy approach, our streets are no safer. There were 33 fatalities in 2003, far more than the 20 deaths in 2002.

Besides, so-called residential streets are largely a misnomer. Many largely commercial streets with several lanes in both directions have a 50-kmh speed limit. That includes main east-west thoroughfares like 104 Avenue.

Reducing speed limits on those "residential" streets would reduce our already slow traffic flow to a crawl.

The president of a nationwide traffic tickets-fighting company scoffed at Bolstad's notions. "There's a limit to the accuracy of radar devices," said Brian Lawrie, president of Pointts.

"Besides, if somebody is hit by a car in a residential street, does (Bolstad) think the person would be less injured at 40 kmh instead of 41 kmh?"

Lawrie figures the solution to safer streets is having fewer toll-booth-style radar traps and more cops patrolling.

It appears Bolstad's bleatings have little support from fellow councillors, so he likely will not realize his goal to pass one last bit of meddlesome legislation.

I suppose we should all wish you a happy retirement from politics, Allan.

I hope you go on to another career that proves truly rewarding. I just pray it does not have anything to do with traffic engineering in Edmonton