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Burlington mayor joins push back to keep speed cameras in school safety zones
Twenty mayors from across Ontario are calling on the Ford government to keep automated speed cameras in school safety zones.
They’ve sent a letter to Queen’s Park asking the premier to reconsider his vow to ban the use of speed cameras across the province.
“We’re sending an SOS to the premier: save our school kids,” said Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward.
Sharing the letter on social media Friday, Ward, along with mayors from Hamilton, St. Catharines, Brantford, and many other places, are calling it a compromise.
“Just give us this carve out for schools, and I think we could find our way forward together,” said Ward.
They cite a July study from Sick Kids Hospital and Toronto Metropolitan University that found the cameras led to a 45 per cent reduction in speeding across 250 Toronto school zones and an 88 per cent reduction in vehicles speeding by more than 20 kilometers per hour.
“Speeding kills, cameras save lives, and cameras will save the life of school children where they’re deployed,” said Ward.
“In a few weeks, our government will introduce legislation to ban speed cameras in Ontario,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
For weeks now, Ford has been calling the cameras a “tax grab” — saying he doesn’t believe the cameras slow people down, and that drivers are being unfairly ticketed for minor speeding offences.
The mayors say they are willing to address his concerns.
“You’ve got concerns about time of day, thresholds, lack of warning, where the revenues go — all of that can be addressed,” said Ward.
The letter also says, if a ban comes, municipalities want to be reimbursed for the cost of cancelling automated speed camera programs, as well as the revenue they generate.
The Ford government itself allowed municipalities to start using speed cameras in 2019, by passing new provincial regulations.
“Before you change it, you want to make sure you’ve got some evidence-based statistics,” said Angelo DiCicco with the Ontario Safety League.
DiCicco says a broader conversation on the appropriateness of automated speed cameras is needed, but ultimately, the onus is on drivers to behave safely and that comes down to more effective education.
“We need to get to the driver,” said DiCicco. “Proper education to the driver that’s speeding through this school zone.”
Speed cameras have been cut down in a rash of incidents across the province this year, and on Friday, CHCH News spotted another one cut down in Vineland.
CHCH News reached out to Niagara police for more information on that.
In the meantime, CHCH News has also asked the Ford government about the letter, and the premier’s office said they have nothing more to add outside of what Ford has already said.
READ MORE: Mayors call on Ford to cover municipalities’ speed camera cancellation costs
