The Quebec government was hoping that photo radars placed on major highways would earn them millions of dollars in revenue — instead, they have netted an $18.9-million budget shortfall.

Officials expected that costs related to the installation, maintenance and calibration of photo radar equipment would be covered once all the revenue from traffic tickets was tallied. They even expected a small surplus.

But contesting an automated photo radar ticket is easier than ever since a 2016 court judgment ruled that evidence collected by the current photo radar system is "inadmissible" and "illegal."

Court of Quebec Judge Serge Cimon ruled in November 2016 that photo radar tickets don't provide sufficient evidence if there's no officer on site to witness the traffic incident, calling it "hearsay."

An agent must be able to certify that the machine is working properly and that the required signage was clearly in place.

The judgment threw a wrench into the province's projected revenue, and put a damper on the total number of tickets being given out.

In November 2016, the same month the judgment was passed down, drivers were slapped with more than 41,000 photo radar tickets. Four months later, in March 2017, that number dropped to 1,193 tickets.

Quebec Transport Minister Andre Fortin has a plan to make automatic photo radar tickets easier to enforce. (Francis Vachon/Canadian Press)

A short paragraph in the latest provincial budget details the $18.9-million deficit in the Road Safety Fund, compared with the $3.3-million surplus they had predicted.

Quebec Transport Minister André Fortin confirmed the numbers in an interview with Radio-Canada, saying he doesn't expect the shortfall will mean the cancellation of projects that are funded through the Road Safety Fund.

"For the moment, we have room to manoeuvre. We are confident we will be able to fulfil our obligations and make money available," said Fortin.

He said that the proposed reforms to the Quebec Highway Safety Code — which are set to be adopted into law in the coming days — will make it easier to enforce automatic photo radar tickets.

Fortin said that under the proposed reforms, it would be impossible to cross examine police officers in traffic court, effectively neutralizing Judge Serge Cimon's decision and making it harder to prove a ticket entered into evidence is "hearsay."

With that change in place, the minister is hoping revenue from photo radar tickets will begin pouring back into the Road Safety Fund.

He said the province has not decided definitely whether it will renew the photo radar program for 2019.