In July 2019, the Ford government amended the Highway Traffic Act, allowing municipalities to develop programs to lower vehicle speeds in Community Safety Zones (CSZ) using Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) technology.
The province knew then that speed kills and protecting children in our school zones and community safety zones was the right thing to do and the addition of 24/7 automated enforcement to change driving behaviour worked.
It’s endorsed by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) who said “Employing ASE tools has been proven to reduce speeding, change driver behaviour, and make our roads safer for everyone — drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and especially children and other vulnerable road users,” the OACP wrote.
Premier Ford has stated that he will reverse the decision to allow for ASE and may use provincial tax money to help municipalities pay for traffic calming instead. While that transfer of funds is appreciated, it is still taxpayer money and the current system uses fines from offenders to pay for those initiatives instead of tax money.
A July study from SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University found the cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent in Toronto.
Let’s talk about the “tax grab”…
Municipalities don’t set the fine. It’s a combination of provincially-set fines for the number of km/hr over the limit, a licence plate lookup fee and the victim fine surcharge…
Did you know that the $8.25 charge on each ticket represents what the province charges for each license plate search in the MTO database… millions of those searches happen yearly and that revenue will cease.
Furthermore the “victim fine surcharge” is another percentage fee added to the provincially-set fine for the speed and that money feeds a slush fund in the province designed to help compensate victims of crime.
All these additional charges we have to pass along to offenders could easily be characterized as a provincial “tax grab” on each speeding ticket and none of that stays with the municipality. A fine issued by a police officer has this surcharge and also comes with demerit points and insurance consequences. Camera fines have neither demerit points nor insurance consequences.
So, cancelling the program that the Ford government created in 2022 will result in millions of lost revenue for the province, large losses to each municipality to dismantle the systems, get out of contracts, see increased speeding again without equivalent enforcement (impossible for police) and then on top of all that, the province will use your tax dollars to pay municipalities to put in speed bumps and other traffic calming instead of letting us pay for those locally with the fines from speeders. Let’s not forget the criminal offences being committed due to vandalism of cameras across the Province. There’s no anger by the premier towards those criminal acts of the costs to the taxpayer.
I’m not sure any of the province’s position on this makes any sense but we will keep trying to make our streets safer with or without the province’s support. I’m shocked that our police-supporting, law and order premier would dismiss the advice from Ontario’s police chiefs without considering all the impacts of a knee-jerk, reactionary decision to undo a system that, while not perfect, is having the effect of changing driving behaviour in our communities.
To recap how this works…
The vehicle owner gets the fine just like a parking ticket or toll charge. They will know who was operating their vehicle. The fact that no demerit points or insurance rate increases accompany each ticket are really just a bonus. If the ticket was issued by a police officer, all those additional consequence would follow along with the provincially legislated fine and victim surcharge.
Our cameras don’t ticket for 1-5 over as some have been saying online. We won’t share the exact threshold or else that would become the new speed limit for people when the speed limit is clearly 40km/hr for a reason. Our threshold was set in consultation with the OPP and we’re certain it is fair and reasonable and we can make changes to it when required.
Some thoughts for your consideration. In the meantime, please drive the speed limit in our community and pay special attention to the speed reductions in our school zones and community safety zones. We will add more traffic calming to our roads in the spring and continue to use ASE for as long as it remains a legal option in Midland. Any funds will be channeled back into these traffic calming and community safety initiatives and will keep the costs off the law abiding, safe driving taxpayers.
If you have questions about our implementation please visit https://midland.ca/ase
Local news coverage: https://www.midlandtoday.ca/local-news/a-dark-day-for-community-safety-in-midland-gordon-on-speed-camera-ban-11268380
Some awkward revelations about PC cabinet minister vehicles getting tickets: https://globalnews.ca/news/11463735/ontario-cabinet-minister-vehicle-speeding-tickets/
Discover more from RE-ELECT BILL GORDON - MAYOR
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If it’s about school zone safety why not turn them off when school is out?
It’s about obeying the speed limit we set in school zones and community safety zones. The speed limit is clearly marked and is 24/7. Break the law and face a consequence. Nothing new here…
I think the Ford Government will face legal challenges from day one. In particular, they will effectively be putting the companies that supply and support the ASE systems out of business.
I hope your voice along with the voices of the other mayors will be enough to sway his advisors. From recent outbursts, it is clear the voices will not sway him directly.
Hopefully Ford will not learn that we removed traffic lanes in favour of bike lanes on Yonge St!
Bill, I quite enjoyed the input and explanations re the speed cameras, however I do not understand why this is a ticketable area when schools are closed. On and off industrial switches can be set remotely and even changed when traffic flow warrants it. Why penalize the people doing 50kph on evenings, weekends or holidays.
Just saying. Jim Attwood
The fact that this is a school zone is secondary to the fact that we made the entire zone 40km/hr permanently. These cameras could go on King Street (across from the new Villa) for example, which is a community safety zone, has lots of speeding and the speed limit is 50km/hr. In both cases the speed limit, just like everywhere else, does not change based on time of day or day of week. Speed limits are speed limits and clearly marked as such and no longer subject to ambiguity based on time of day.
your speed camers are just a money grab , after hrs they are stilll running , weekends still running ? if that isn;t prof enough then your a part of this scam ? take them down ?
The speed limit is 24/7 just like any other speed limit.
courageous and informed post by a mayor who is not afraid to speak truth to power
Duuuuuuuuuugh wants to ban speed cameras in Ontario because “people are gettin’ fed up with gettin’ tickets for goin’ five or six kilos over the speed limit”.
And I got one for driving over the limit in a school zone. And I had it coming. But I guess a drop out former drug dealin’ nepo skid would see it differently. And I guess he knows a bit more about kilos than the rest of us.