Who Gets the Ticket
Section 160(1) of the Traffic Safety Act states:
"If a vehicle is involved in an offence referred to in Section 157 or a bylaw, the owner of that vehicle is guilty of an offence."
Because you are charged as the registered owner of the vehicle, and have not been charged as a driver, a guilty plea will not result in any demerit points assessed to your operator's license.
Note that tickets are mailed out, have a photo of the vehicle and contain details including the posted speed, violation speed and fine amount.
Understanding Your Ticket
The City of Edmonton uses various kinds of automated enforcement equipment (generally referred to as photo radar).
Intersection Cameras
Intersection Safety Cameras, known as red-light and speed-on-green cameras, are fully automated and mounted above intersections to capture violations. They are an effective tool in reducing the number of collisions. If your ticket was at an intersection, see the Intersection Safety Device Frequently Asked Questions.
Vehicle-Mounted Equipment
Mobile photo enforcement takes place between intersections, usually from a vehicle parked beside the road. The vehicle-mounted equipment has a narrow radar beam that targets specific lanes of traffic and automatically takes images of speeding vehicles recording the location, date, time, posted speed and violation speed. A trained and qualified peace officer sits with the equipment, observes violating vehicles and makes notes accordingly. The photo radar system is tested before and after the noted offence time.
Hand-Held Technology
Peace Officers may also use laser-based, handheld devices that use LIDAR technology. If your speeding ticket is from a hand-held device, the ticket will indicate the images were taken with Photo LIDAR. The images on the ticket will show a grey box on your vehicle in the black and white photo. This box is the target area of the laser so, even if another vehicle passed you at the time the photo was taken, the box indicates your vehicle was speeding. The officer operating the equipment also confirms which vehicle was targeted. The LIDAR system is tested before and after the noted offence time.
To review full-sized, colour images of the alleged violation, go to automated photo enforcement and enter the ticket number and PIN. The online photos show the LIDAR target area on your vehicle as a red box.
Paying Speeding and Red Light Tickets
If you received a Notice of Offence in the mail from the Edmonton Police Service for a red light or speeding violation, as the registered owner of the plate you will have 3 options to respond.
Speeding Fines
Pay the Voluntary Payment
In Person
- At any Registry Office or Provincial Court
- Service fees apply
Note that you must bring the ticket with you.
Online
Pay on Time to Avoid Late Fees
If your payment is received on or before your court appearance date, you will not be charged the late payment fee of $20 or 20% of the voluntary payment amount, whichever is greater. By paying the voluntary payment amount, you are pleading guilty and do not need to appear in court.
For more information about responding to a ticket, please refer to the options on the back of the ticket or go to tickets.alberta.ca.
Plead Not Guilty
By Mail
Provincial Court Traffic
1A Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 0R2
Mail your notice to the address indicated above and sign the following statement on the notice:
I wish to Plead Not Guilty to the offence I have been charged with and Will Appear at the Trial Date set for me. I understand that I will be advised of this trial date by ordinary mail which will be sent to address on the face of this offence notice unless I indicate a different address below. I understand that should I fail to appear for my trial I may be convicted in my absence without a hearing and I will be responsible for payment of any penalty plus late payment charges that may become applicable.
A trial date will be set.
Appear Before a Justice
- Appear before a justice at the appearance address and date indicated on the reverse side of your ticket
- You may plead guilty or not guilty to the offence charged
- If you plead guilty, you may ask for time to pay the fine
- If you want to make submissions as to your penalty, a trial date may be set
- If you plead not guilty, a trial date will be set
Please Note: Where authorized, the voluntary payment option includes a victims surcharge. The victims surcharge is used to assist victims of crime in the Province of Alberta.
