Surrey Sur squads in p provincial play page 40
Dancers fill Surrey urrey stage tival for annual festival page 47
Thursday March h 29, 2012 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
‘Super clean crews’ go to four more hospitals
Red light camera tickets on the rise
Bacterial infection prompts initiative, which includes SMH by Jeff Nagel
10,000 more fines issued last year than in 2010
FRASER HEALTH is sending clean-
by Jeff Nagel AUTOMATED CAMERAS busted 50 per cent more drivers
for running red lights last year and ICBC doesn’t rule out making even greater use of the technology to reduce intersection crashes. The newly installed system of digital intersection cameras generated 30,803 tickets against red light runners, up from 20,521 in 2010 under the old analog cameras. That translated into $3.6 million in paid fines for 2011 so far Q 1. Nordel Way and $5.1 million if all of the $167 at 84 Avenue tickets are paid. That compares Q 2. King George to about $2.9 million in 2010. The largest number of tickets Boulevard and 80 were issued in Vancouver Avenue – 13,012 – followed by 5,298 in Q 3. West Georgia Surrey, 4,027 in Burnaby, 1,976 in Delta and 1,394 in Richmond. at Denman The cameras flash each time a red light runner is detected, but Q 4. Granville Street at West 49 tickets are only issued to about one out of every four violators, Avenue continuing the enforcement rate Q 5. Oak Street at used in the past. Mark Milner, ICBC’s manager West 57 Avenue of road safety programs, said the ticket increase was expected because more cameras are now in use – 140 compared to 120 with the old system – and they’ve been put in more effective locations where red light running is most prevalent.
ing crews who have battled high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at Burnaby Hospital to four more hospitals to try to wash down infection rates there. The so-called “super clean crews” will spend two weeks each starting April 2 at Langley Memorial, Peace Arch, Royal Columbian and finally Surrey Memorial hospitals. Petra Welsh, Fraser Health’s director of infection prevention Petra Welsh and control, said the decision was made based on the work at Burnaby Hospital, where high rates of C. difficile (CDI) prompted doctors to speak out and led to an independent review and a series of new recommendations. “These four facilities are the ones that see the sickest patients, the ones that are most vulnerable to CDI,” she said. “These are also the facilities where we see the higher trend of C. difficile due to the large size of the facilities.”
“People say the sites smell cleaner and look cleaner.”
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What a circus
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER
Matt Levy of Chameleon Entertainment juggles on a tightrope during an indoor circus event at the Firehall Centre for the Arts on Sunday. The event was part of Delta Arts Council’s ongoing Family Concert Series.
See UNION / Page 8
See ICBC / Page 3
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