Edmonton cancels $13M in speeding tickets

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EDMONTON, Alberta, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The city of Edmonton, Alberta, is writing off nearly $13 million worth of speeding tickets because the reliability of cameras came into question.

Crown Prosecutor Steven Bilodeau said he petitioned the provincial justice ministry to nullify the tickets as people were receiving tickets for impossible infractions, the Edmonton Journal reported.

In one case on Jan. 12, a camera snapshot alleged a driver was traveling at 89 mph on a city street, but the video showed all the other vehicles around it moving at the same speed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Bilodeau said all 141,729 tickets issued by the automated system between November 2009 and Jan. 14 will be overturned and refunds will be mailed to those who already paid fines.

"It just has to be done," he said. "This is about public confidence."

A spokesman for American Traffic Solutions, which supplies the system to the city, said the company was working with the city to rectify the process to ensure the cameras were "properly maintained and calibrated," the Journal said.