"Alberta's court system is facing a significant backlog. Quite simply, that means serious criminals are getting back onto the streets because the courts are bogged down with traffic issues. This is unacceptable.

"Every year, more than two million traffic tickets are issued in Alberta. Of those tickets, 400,000 are challenged. This results in more than 60,000 challenges to traffic tickets receiving court dates.

"That means Alberta's justice system dedicates 10 courtrooms per day to traffic tickets alone. The traffic tickets clogging up our courts create real-world consequences for Albertans. For example, many repeat offenders in the rural crime epidemic have their court dates delayed by the thousands of traffic cases crowding the courts.

"That is not sustainable nor is it an efficient use of our valuable court resources. Success of SafeRoads Alberta

"That's why our government introduced the SafeRoads initiative in December 2020.

"SafeRoads allows police forces to hand out impaired driving penalties during traffic stops, getting impaired drivers off the streets immediately.

"This approach is already paying off: in Phase 1 of the Justice Transformation Initiative or SafeRoads Alberta, between Dec. 1, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021, approximately 89 per cent of impaired driving cases have been diverted from the courts while ensuring that impaired drivers face steep and significant penalties.

"This new system has proven to be so successful at tackling the burden on our justice system that Alberta's government has been working on a second phase - one to deal with traffic infractions like speeding and distracted driving.

"Phase 2 of SafeRoads will free up police and court resources to address more serious family, civil and criminal cases while still allowing individuals to dispute their offences, have their cases heard and be granted extra time to pay if they need it.

"We have heard the concerns Albertans raised when a training document was reported on. It's important that people understand the training document did not reflect what the program is and what the benefits are for Albertans.

"However, we have clearly heard from Albertans who shared their thoughts with us on traffic safety in this province. That is why we are pausing the rollout of Phase 2.

"We will take the next 90 to 120 days to ensure that we communicate and consult with Albertans and that they are educated on the changes proposed in Phase 2. We will listen to what Albertans have to say and we will share the benefits of these changes with them. Combatting rural crime rates

"Our SafeRoads program builds on the steps Alberta's government has already taken to combat rising crime rates, especially in rural Alberta, and fix a backlogged court system.

"We created the Rural Alberta Provincial Integrated Defence (RAPID) Response initiative, which gives 260 Sheriff Highway Patrol officers the authority to handle more traffic-related occurrences - freeing up RCMP officers to respond to higher-priority criminal matters.

"We're spending $10 million to hire 50 new prosecutors and support staff, and prioritizing their placement to better serve rural Albertans.

"We've introduced remote hearings, trials and sentencings, and allowed for the email filing of court documents.

"What is clear is the status quo is not working. It's not working for our police who are caught up for hours waiting in courts. It's not working for our court system that is forced to delay serious criminal matters to address speeding tickets. And it's not working for those Albertans living with the consequences of crime in their lives and communities.

"Albertans will always have the right to challenge tickets, and due process under the law. Albertans will always have the ability to dispute fines or make their payments quickly and efficiently.

"Our government is committed to ensuring that we fix the very real problem facing our justice system. We need our police to fight crime, not sit in courtrooms, and we need our courts to prosecute real criminals."

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