Group of Sask. drivers claim construction zone speeding tickets given by mistake

WATCH: A group of motorists are concerned after getting tickets in the mail claiming they were speeding in a construction zone. Wayne Mantyka explains.

A group of motorists are voicing their frustration after receiving photo radar tickets in the mail, claiming they were speeding in a construction zone just outside of Regina in November.

However, all of them are pleading their innocence and feel a mistake was made.

Mike Owens believes he was travelling the posted speed limit last November when going through a construction zone just south of Regina. Now, photo radar tickets for family vehicles have arrived in the mail.

“So, we’ve got one here for $494, another one for $476, and then the big one for $924,” he shared on Friday.

He’s not the only one. Several others have come forward on a local Facebook group.

“I put a little thing on a highway conditions page just to see if other travellers going through there in that time period received tickets, and I’ve gotten over 70 names so far and they keep coming every day so we’re quite convinced something wasn’t set up right,” he explained to CTV News.

The motorists were ticketed by a roving photo radar officer who clocks vehicles as they pass through construction zones. Traci de Jersey is a nurse who was ticketed on her commute into the city from Milestone.

“They say I was doing 87 but there’s not way it was a construction zone because I’m hyper vigilant on those things,” she said.

“I was not speeding.”

She said the large number of tickets are the talk of the town.

“Hundreds of people in our area in Milestone alone, several of them have gotten multiple tickets over those few days in the end of November, all of them stating that they had not sped, would not speed, and there was no construction, so our stories are too similar,” she explained.

The motorists say that they have raised concerns with government officials. They were told they only recourse is to take the tickets to court.

In an emailed statement to CTV News, the Government of Saskatchewan outlined that photo radars are set up in random highway work zones, with locations changing periodically and as needed.

“This means photo enforcement could be set up in any work zone at any time,” the statement read.

The statement went on to explain how the technology works, saying that it can take clear images of vehicles up to 150 meters away.

“The DragonCam system creates an image file that includes the violation picture as well as associated information required by regulation, including violation date/time, speed, location, operator ID, and a unique violation file name,” the statement read.

This process ensures that it is not possible to separate the violation picture and the metadata, thus avoiding any potential errors in future ticket processing.