Ontario mayors urge Ford to keep speed cameras in school zones

A group of 20 mayors continue to push Ontario Premier Doug Ford to rethink his decision to do away with speed cameras.

They are asking that speed cameras be left in school zones, but the premier isn’t budging — pushing other traffic calming measures instead.

You’ve seen them all over – you may have even been caught by one. And you’ve also likely heard that many of them have been vandalized and destroyed.

“They aren’t worried about the safety of people. If they were, they’d start installing infrastructure,” said Ford.

Ford is determined to rid the province of speed cameras despite several groups, including local mayors, continuing to plead with him to keep them.

“Surely the cost of a ticket isn’t worth more than the life of a child,” said Burlington mayor Marianne Meed Ward.

Meed Ward was on Morning Live Wednesday with Annette Hamm and said she’s not giving up just yet.

“Speed kills, speed cameras work, they slow people down. And you have a far greater chance of surviving if you get hit by a car at 30 versus at 50. Your chances reduce from about 90 per cent survival to about 20,” said Meed Ward.

Down in Niagara, St. Catharines mayor Mat Siscoe is giving up the fight. He says if the province won’t allow the cameras, he’s got to find another way to slow traffic down in school zones.

“If we can’t use speed cameras, I’m going to take the premier at face value. Then we have to look at very stringent traffic calming measures in front of elementary schools,” said Siscoe.

Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati wasn’t part of the mayors group asking for speed cameras to stay, but he is in favor of them.

“They promised us other traffic calming measures, so I’m open to that as well. The bottom line is, we just want to slow down traffic. That’s what the ultimate objective is. If these other traffic calming measures that are created by traffic engineers slow traffic down then that’s great, that’s the ultimate objective,” said Diodati.

Some of the traffic calming measures include roundabouts, speed humps, LED speed signs and narrowing the lines on the road to slow people down.

WATCH MORE: Doug Ford refuses to compromise on speed cameras, promising speed bumps instead