By james art 
“I have seen it where there is four light cycles, not one car does not move in.”
Sounds familiar, Toronto?
As is the case, officer Eric Dalong does not describe traffic in the largest city in Canada. Instead, he talks about how blocking the intersection can affect the congestion in Seattle, where he works for the police department.
Every day, when he decides whether to release a ticket, he reviews a video of potential movement disorders captured by automated cameras to apply the US city. In addition to the work of the increasingly common cameras with red light and speed, Seattle automates the application to “block the box” and drive in a bus lane.
It is the only city in North America to issue tickets to two trafficking disorders in this way – and it seems to change behavior. As the program started in 2022, only up to nine percent of the owners of vehicles, which was issued a warning to block the box, later received a ticket to do so again.
“I would not hate to imagine what the traffic in Seattle would be like without it, especially in those busy intersections,” Dalng said.
“If you are a pedestrian, they love him. If you are a cyclist, they love him – because it clears everything for them.”
In an effort to figure out how to repair traffic, CBC Toronto travels to Seattle to get a backstage of how cameras seem to deter the drivers from blocking intersections and driving in bus lanes.
Now Toronto is striving to follow Seattle’s lead.
The Municipal Council approved a congestion plan in October, which includes piloting automated application to block the box, driving in specialized bus lanes and preventing bicycle lanes to help move in Toronto.
To dig out how big a difference these programs can make in congestion, CBC Toronto travels to Seattle for the first view of how his comparable programs work. This is the first part of Gridlocked: The Wort Out, a three -part CBC series, which explores various solutions to the expensive congestion problem in Toronto.
Gridlock costs the greater area of Toronto and Hamilton (GTA) $ 44.7 billion a year in economic and social value, which includes lost performance and reductions in the quality of life of travelers, according to a December survey of the Canadian Center for Economic Analysis. It was ordered by the Alliance for Housing and Civil Construction of Ontario and
The Association of Builders of Road Builders in Ontario.
Last year, a study by the Toronto region (TRBOT) Commercial Board (TRBOT) also found that the bigger part of the 1,000 respondents considered congestion as a “crisis” and thought to move away because of it.
CBC Toronto talks with various experts about this series, including engineers, police officers and even a psychologist. Many consider the application of traffic part of the congestion puzzle.
“So many intersections around here walk around 3:30 [p.m.] Until 5:30 pm you can’t overcome – no one can – because cars block it, “said Giles Gerson, President of TRBOT, who created a special traffic jam group.
“But they can get out of this because there is no real performance.”
How does it work in Seattle
Seattle has expanded his automatic performance program to include blocking the box and driving in special bus lanes to upgrade the success that his transport department says he had with red lights and speed cameras.
“They were very effective in changing people’s behavior and improving safety,” says Andy Merkli, head of the Seattle Vision Zero program.
Six intersections currently have cameras for the application of the block, and six seats have cameras for the imposition of certain bus lanes. (One intersection has cameras for both violations.)
If the vehicle is caught blocking an intersection or driving on a bus lane, the video is displayed by the seller of the technology and then sent to the Seattle police to confirm or reject the violation. For the first violation, the vehicle owner receives a mail warning – but if they do it again, they receive a $ 75 ticket in the United States.
Approximately 28,000 warnings and just over 2400 tickets have been issued to block the box so far and about 267,000 warnings and just under 120,700 tickets to drive in a bus lane, according to police in Seattle.
To block the box only nine percent of the owners of vehicles who received a warning, a ticket was later issued. The recidivism coefficient is higher for driving on a bus lane, with 45 percent from the moment the program started in the spring of 2022 by the end of 2024.
“Eight to nine percent percentage we have seen for blocks of the block is quite low for all kinds of cameras we have experience in Seattle,” Merki said.
He says his department plans to analyze the data later this year in order to understand all the factors contributing to these violations, but they expect the results to be positive.
Delong, for his part, noticed a significant improvement when it came to one of the city bus lanes.
“Before we have this, the buses were five to 30 minutes delay, trying to get to their next stop or try to cross the string of the Third Avenue,” the police officer said.
“It was awful.”
Earth boots now, automation is forthcoming
Back in Toronto, the city is currently trying to deter the drivers in the old -fashioned way. Traffic agents at busy intersections prevent vehicles from blocking the box where they can, and police officers will issue warnings and fines personally when located.
In September, tickets to block the box rose from $ 90 to $ 450 at most intersections, and this year the proposed budget of the city includes $ 3 million to refuse the number of traffic agents on its streets to 100.
But the automatic performance pilot is also on the road – and Toronto wants to learn from other jurisdictions such as Seattle.
“There are many really, really good practices we play that we definitely want to try and use,” says Roger Brown, director of city traffic management.
“The technology they use where the cameras are installed, all these different things.”
He also said that the city will start installing cameras this year to collect data on the construction of the program, but the implementation is unlikely to start by 2026. The city must receive provincial approval for several aspects of the program.
Increasing the scale of application
When the time comes, the head of the Toronto police traffic services says automation will keep people responsible.
“It really means that I don’t have to have police officers at this angle,” said the acting SUPT. Matt Moier.
Urban planning expert Mati Siemiatics equals the future program with “Having agents to apply a scale”, given the potential to have the technology in the center of the center.
“It’s remarkable how noticeable it is,” he said, after reviewing footage from CBC Toronto about how the Seattle Automatic Performance technology works.
“It’s just hassle -free and looks almost just how it’s set.”
Siemiatycki believes this will help relieve Gridlock, but this needs to be done more to deal with the comprehensive problem.
“Overload is a much more challenge for too many cars and insufficient space,” said Sieimi, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto.
“Overall, we need a much broader set of solutions to actually resolve congestion.”
Tomorrow: In Part 2 of Gridlocked: The output, experts explain why congestion are so bad in Toronto and how applying a combination of several tandem solutions can make things better.