As of the end of February 2024, there’s been a 284.2 per cent increase in the number of automated speed enforcement violations in Moose Jaw compared to this time last year.  

This is according to February’s statistical extract of offences recorded by the Moose Jaw Police Service, which showed 1948 offences arising from the speed cameras so far this year. 

This isn’t the full picture, however, as camera issues played a part last year, resulting in only 507 tickets being issued by the end of February 2023. Looking at the numbers for 2022 when the camera was in working order, it was more comparable to this year, with 1793 tickets issued by the end of February 2022. Compared to February 2022, this is an increase of 8.6 per cent for year-to-date violations in February 2024. 

Police Chief Rick Bourassa said most tickets result from the TransCanada Highway cameras. He also noted that the cameras don’t seem to be a deterrent for speeders through the area.

“The behaviours don’t really seem to have changed in terms of people going faster than the speed limit through there, but we’re not seeing the severity of collisions, which was really what that was all about – it was about reducing harm.” 

Also noted in the statistical extract for February is a 76.6 per cent increase in failures to comply with court orders. Year-to-date as of February 2024, there were 136 offences for this, compared to 77 offences by this time last year.  

While Bourassa said he’s encouraged that total crimes against the person are down 7.2 per cent and total crimes against property are down 34.5 per cent compared to this time last year, he said it’s still too early in the year to determine trends.  

“We always get better data when Statistics Canada does its analysis in July.” 

February 2024 saw 36 offences for crimes against the person, and 111 crimes against property.