Hamilton proposes to double speed cameras to combat aggressive driving

The City of Hamilton is proposing new measures to slow down drivers on the road, including doubling the number of automated speed enforcement cameras to keep an eye on traffic.

There’s some skepticism about the value of the cameras, and whether it would be better to have more police instead, but at the same time there is a lot of support for the automatic cameras and the new plan.

Collisions like what happened on Trinity Church Road in July have focused attention on road safety in Hamilton.

A 10-year-old girl and her mother died from the crash after a pickup truck crossed the centre line at high speed.

“There’s always been a need for traffic enforcement,” said Sgt. Dwayne Barnes with Hamilton police. “However, in recent time we have seen an increase in speeding and aggressive behaviour.”

Police say speeding is a major part of the road safety program.

“The thing about speeding is it’s almost always a factor in fatal motor collisions,” said Barnes. “So when you’re driving at excessive speed, you’re literally putting yourself and others at risk of being involved in a fatal collision.”

To slow drivers down, the city has had four automated speed enforcement cameras on the roads in a program that started in 2020.

A city report says the cameras “are an effective tool for managing vehicle speeds and influencing driver behaviour.

It says with the cameras, “driver compliance with posted speed limits improves by approximately 10 to 30 per cent.”

Now it’s is recommending four more cameras, doubling the number to eight.

A recommendation going to city councillors on Monday.

READ MORE: Automated speed enforcement camera vandalized again, this time in Waterdown

“It’s all about traffic and public safety, that’s the primary goal here,” said Tom Jackson, a Hamilton City Councillor for Ward 6. “It’s about public and pedestrian, cycling, even motoring traffic safety.

Jackson supports the increase and says people in his ward on the mountain that got the first speed camera five years ago, have been calling for more.

“Constantly advocating ‘please Councillor Jackson, please, the next time the speed cameras are going to be installed somewhere, please we’d love to have it,: Mohawk Road, on Fennell, where the vehicles are just carelessly, are recklessly speeding’,” said Jackson.

Despite vandalism to a Waterdown speed camera, Ted McMeekin, a Hamilton City Councillor for Ward 15, said he’s welcome more than four new cameras.

“If it were up to me, I would quadruple and make sure some were on rural roads, which are tremendous,” said McMeekin. “The reality is that these speed cameras have a history — when people know that they’re there, of slowing traffic and making the streets safer.”

Others aren’t so sure that speed cameras are effective or fair.

“[They’re] not going to do anything, so they get a ticket,” said one person. “Seeing a cop car slows people down, not a camera.”

“One kilometre over,” said another person referring to a speeding ticket. “I guess the camera caught me right when I went through, I mean like 61 in a 60. That’s crazy.”

The city report also says the four new speed cameras being proposed would more than pay for themselves.

They say fines from the cameras could earn $375,000 a year for the city, after the expense of putting them in and operating them.

READ MORE: OPP searching for stolen speed camera in Brant County