An inside look at the Hamilton police traffic safety unit
Standing on an overpass above the Red Hill Valley Parkway, Const. Vince Ariemma points a speed measuring device at the cars zooming below.
If I can see it, I'll pick it up," says the veteran traffic cop, adding the radar can pick up vehicle speeds one kilometre away.
On a nearby ramp leading onto the parkway, other Hamilton police traffic safety unit officers are lined up. Ariemma calls out over the radio letting them know he's clocked a white pickup truck going 107 kilometres an hour - the speed limit is 80 km/h.
Const. Nelson Fiuza takes off in his vehicle, catching up with the pickup near the next interchange. He pulls the truck over and tickets the driver.
Passing vehicles - at least during this traffic stop - largely move over and slow down. Yet, even at 80 km/h, the speed of the passing cars and large commercial vehicles is rattling for an observer standing on the side of the parkway.
The traffic safety unit was launched in 2021. Traffic enforcement has always been a part of policing, and is still part of the work of patrol officers, but the centralized unit was created in response to growing traffic issues from a growing population.
Concerns about road safety have consistently topped community complaints to police, but there is an even greater spotlight on the issue in recent months amid a surge in serious and fatal pedestrian crashes.
Whenever we're stopping someone at high speeds, in my opinion we're preventing serious collisions," says Sgt. Dwayne Barnes of the traffic safety unit (TSU).
The unit is now based out of the Mountain station on Rymal Road East. It has 18 constables who work on targeted traffic enforcement and investigate crashes where people are hurt. Life threatening and fatal crashes are investigated by the collision reconstruction unit.
The team is overseen by Barnes, who decides where and how to best deploy the TSU officers each day based on need. The officers work seven-days a week, but mostly work on weekdays when traffic is heavier.
Before becoming the unit's sergeant this year, Barnes spent a good amount of his 25-year career in investigative units. All policing is important, but he now thinks working in traffic may be one of his most important jobs.
In the month of May alone, during an aggressive driver campaign, the unit issued tickets for 1,220 offences, including three stunt drivers (drivers caught going 50 km/h or more above the limit). Across the entire Hamilton Police Service officers laid 2,733 speeding charges and eight stunt driving charges last month.
So far this year police have laid 13,945 speeding charges and 94 stunt driving charges. These are in addition to any tickets issued through the city's photo radar.
Barnes sees each one of those traffic stops as preventing a crash and potentially saving a life. The hope is the ticket not only changes the behaviour of the offending driver, but also other passing drivers who see the vehicles stopped.
Vision Zero - the goal to have zero traffic deaths - has three prongs. They are engineering, education and enforcement.
Our job, as enforcement, isn't to write tickets, our job is to change driver behaviour," Barnes says. The ticket is simply the penalty."
There has been renewed attention on road safety in recent months, amid a concerning spike in serious pedestrian crashes, including 10 deaths. The collision reconstruction unit, which investigates those deadly crashes, says there have been no patterns to the cases.
But these are not accidents - police say they are crashes that are almost always preventable. Speed, distracted driving, aggressive driving and impairment continue to be factors in crashes everywhere.
A traffic stop is often the only interaction an average member of the public has with police. Barnes sees that as an opportunity to educate and have a positive interaction. He recently received three letters of thanks for officers in his unit from people who were pulled over and ticketed.
He imagines if he were to ask anyone if they wanted to help save lives, they would jump at the chance and say yes. But his answer might surprise them.
Drive the speed limit," he says.
Drivers get comfortable in their vehicles. They are often confident they're good drivers. But speeding causes two significant problems: drivers cannot react as quickly and, if there is a collision, speed increases the damage and likelihood for serious injury or death.
Every three months, Barnes goes through crash data and pulls out the top 10 collision intersections so they can focus enforcement on those areas. Some of the problem intersections are in close to each other, allowing police to patrol them together and add more intersections to the priority list.
Enforcement includes traffic officers paroling up and down streets - their vehicles are equipped with automatic speed monitoring that picks up the speed of passing vehicles. It can also include officers stopped, using the hand-held speed measuring device to catch speeders. Barnes says they usually only stay in one area for about an hour or so before moving on so drivers don't get used to them being in one place.
After stopping vehicles on the Red Hill recently, Barnes moved to Upper James Street, which has three intersections on the top crash list. Other hot spot intersections are on Dundurn, Centennial, Main and King streets. He says it's nearly impossible for him to drive Upper James without spotting a driver on their cellphone.
On this day he's in an unmarked van, but typically he's in a marked police vehicle and there are many times where he is stopped, sitting next to someone on their phone and he has to honk his horn to get their attention. This day it takes only a few blocks before he stops a driver on their phone. Normally, he tickets everyone he stops but this driver gets a warning because Barnes has a reporter and photographer from The Spectator with him.
Barnes says he often sees people stopped at intersections sneaking a quick look at phones and some may think it's safe to do so. But even at a stop light it's against the law and it prevents drivers from paying attention.
Another newer focus for the traffic unit this year is commercial vehicle enforcement - officers underwent training to inspect these vehicles. Barnes says it's important because their size means they can do significantly more damage in crashes.
Police cannot be everywhere all the time - although Barnes often wishes they could. That's why it's so important for everyone on the road to slow down and pay attention.
We can't do it alone," he said.
Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com