Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie believes the right choice was made to step back and consult Albertans before shaking up the province's traffic court system.

The government has come under fire over changes they say are aimed at freeing up court resources to address more serious crimes. Critics have said it would mean motorists who dispute a traffic ticket would face surcharges of up to $150 and also limit drivers to just seven days to fight it.

Guthrie says his office has been inundated with questions by constituents.

"There were concerns around disclosure and having an opportunity to be able to inquiry and get more information, and those seven days don't provide you with that," says Guthrie.

"There was a tremendous amount of feedback we got, even on the constitutionality of some of these changes, so I was very pleased that the minister decided to pull back for 60-90 days, do some public consultation as well as consultation with industry experts, and just take another look at this."

In a joint statement, Transportation minister Rajan Sawhney and Acting Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Sonya Savage said they will now take 90 to 120 days to explain the proposed changes to Albertans.

They say more than two million traffic tickets are issued annually in Alberta, and of those 400,000 are challenged. As a result, more than 60,000 challenges to traffic tickets receive court dates.

NDP Justice critic Irfan Sabir says Albertans have made it clear they are not happy about the changes.

"I'm calling on the new justice minister to stop these fees, scrap the seven-day deadline and halt the implementation of this program," says Sabir.

He says some of the struggles being faced by the justice system are due to government cuts.