Police in Delta, B.C. are the first of five departments to try out a provincial pilot program bringing traffic tickets into the digital age.
Starting Monday, officers patrolling the city's streets will be filing electronic tickets for those violating B.C.'s traffic laws.
Officers will scan drivers' licence information into a new online ticket template, which will automatically populate with details of the alleged offence.
Once the form is filled, equipment in the police cruisers will send the information to agencies including ICBC. Police will no longer need to mail the tickets and affected third parties won't have to manually re-enter details in their databases.
"Basically it's moving ticketing of speeders into the 21st century," Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said.
Under the current system, drivers wait around for officers to enter the information into a computer, run a check then print a ticket and come back to the car.
With the e-ticket system, instead of having to manually enter the information then write a ticket, the licence scanner will print it out—similar to using a machine to pay with debit or credit at a restaurant.
"It'll be a lot faster, a lot quicker, and more importantly, a lot more accurate," Farnworth said.
The pilot program, which will roll out in four other jurisdictions in the spring, is meant to make roads safer by keeping bad drivers from avoiding the consequences. Farnworth said it will also help police and ICBC identify which drivers shouldn't be on the road.
The province hopes the e-filing system will help reduce the number of tickets thrown out due to human errors such as spelling mistakes or unchecked boxes.
"Depending on the results – I'm expecting it to be quite successful – it'll be rolled out across the province," Farnworth said.
Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord said he's hopeful the more efficient process will free officers up to do further enforcement.
"While not everyone will welcome the idea of police officers handing out more tickets, we believe this will improve road safety in the long term," he said in a statement.
Drivers will still be handed paper tickets.
Contents, penalties and validity of the tickets will be the same as traditional tickets, but recipients will have the option to pay their tickets though a new online payment service. Tickets can also be paid as written tickets are, in person, by phone or by mail.
E-tickets will be issued by Vancouver police starting April 2 and by Prince George Municipal and North District RCMP starting two weeks later. The Capital Regional District Integrated Road Safety Unit will be the final team to try out e-ticketing starting April 30.
The program will wrap up in the middle of May, then a report will be sent to the ministry in the summer. The report will help officials decide whether to roll out e-ticketing across the province.
