The targeted traffic safety initiatives in Saskatoon, funded to the tune of 80 thousand dollars last year, has produced results. With 17 different projects and staffing varying between 5 to 9 members, 16-hundred-24 charges were laid in total. That included speeding, distracted driving, equipment violations and, among many others, speeding in a school zone.

The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners says it was advised at yesterday’s meeting that for 2019 the city won’t be able to provide dollars for the Traffic Safety Initiative Project funded by the City of Saskatoon’s Automated Speed Enforcement program.

Vice-Chair Carolanne Inglish McQuay says there are regular duties for traffic enforcement officers every day, all the time, but the question becomes how would they augment programs in the city.

“You would have seen that those back-to-school initiatives were driven from the funding from this specific initiative. What was also seen, which I thought was really unique, was that on Halloween they set out a special program to have the police in 30 neighbourhoods just giving a presence and really reminding drivers that the police are out and trying to keep the children safe.”

Inglis-McQuay says the cutbacks are due to the change in the way the province is providing revenue from the Automated Speed Enforcement initiative which means the City of Saskatoon is getting half what they would normally receive in revenue from the cameras along Circle Drive.