Delta police are the first police agency in the province to roll-out the new e-Ticket system in a pilot project that started on Monday. Photograph By Delta Police
Delta police are the first department in the province to roll out the new roadside electronic traffic violation ticket (e-Tickets) in a pilot program that started Monday.
The DPD is one of five police agencies who will scan drivers’ licence information into a new on-line ticket template that auto-populates offence details, ensuring accuracy while saving time. In turn, the vehicle-mounted equipment will rapidly share this information with justice-sector partners like ICBC, eliminating the need to mail tickets to these partners and for them to re-enter the details.
“ETicketing will allow police officers to leverage technology,” said DPD Chief Neil Dubord, “The process is simply more efficient and quicker, and police officers will be freed up to do more enforcement. While not everyone will welcome the idea of police officers handing out more tickets, we believe this will improve road safety in the long term.”
The Vancouver Police Department is scheduled to begin issuing eTickets on April 2, Prince George Municipal and North District RCMP on April 16 and the Capital Regional District Integrated Road Safety Unit on April 30. The pilot program will wrap in mid-May and report to the ministry in the summer, informing the consideration of a provincial rollout.
“If we can make it harder for bad drivers to avoid the consequences of their decisions, and we can identify more quickly those drivers who perhaps shouldn’t be on the road, that will help us to prevent crashes, save lives and keep auto insurance affordable,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “Based on the program’s design and success in other jurisdictions, we’re optimistic that we’ll see these results during the pilot.”
The contents, penalties and validity of eTickets will match that of traditional, written tickets. However, eTicket recipients will have the option to pay their eTickets through a new online payment service, PayBC, or continue to use existing payment methods, such as in-person at ServiceBC or ICBC locations, by phone or by mail.
