New semi weight cameras record every vehicle passing by

Drivers who often use Highway 11 and the Trans-Canada Highway around Regina may have noticed new sets of cameras filming them as they pass over concrete slabs.

The cameras are part of the Ministry of Highways’ new weigh-in-motion technology, used to monitor and enforce semi truck weight restrictions.

A composite photo built by International Road Dynamics shows what the Saskatoon-based company’s technology would look like for a patrol officer using it remotely on a tablet. (Submitted by International Road Dynamics)

A weigh scale is built into the concrete slab on the road.

If a semi is over a weight restriction, Saskatchewan Highway Patrol officers review the footage and can issue a fine or ticket that day, or use the footage as evidence for further investigation.

The cameras, several of which are hung up on metal beams over top of the concrete, record all traffic passing by them, semis or not. Highways ministry communications person David Horth said the technology uses software to filter out all vehicles, expect for commercial trucks.

Images and photos gathered by the cameras aren’t used to penalize non-semi drivers who violate traffic laws like speeding, Horth said.

The cameras at each station shoot photographs and record video on CCTV of traffic passing through, he said.

The footage is stored for two years in a server at a provincial government data centre; it’s only accessible to Saskatchewan Highway Patrol staff, Horth said.

Around Regina, the weigh-in-motion stations are installed on Highway 11, just north of the Regina bypass; on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of the bypass’s west side; and on Highway 6 and Highway 33, Horth said.

The company that installs and maintains the technology, Saskatoon-based International Road Dynamics, has a webpage showing it has set up stations at Prince Albert, Weyburn and Carlyle, too.

“This project was a full turnkey contract including maintenance and service. Each site can be controlled in a real-time operative mode from a central location over a web connection,” the IRD webpage states.

“Officers can also perform spot checks on site and can view the weight and dimension data of approaching commercial vehicles on their vehicles’ laptops.”

Horth said the enforcement system isn’t in use yet.

He summarized the technology as being similar to what’s used at Regina’s landfill: When a vehicle with a load of trash pulls up to the pay booth at the dump, it’s driving on top of a weigh scale.