- Ontario government moves to ban all automated speed cameras.
- Traffic-calming tools like speed bumps will replace these devices.
- Critics say cameras were revenue tools that failed to improve safety.
Lead-footed drivers in Ontario, Canada, soon won’t have to worry about a surprise speeding fine dropping through their mailbox. The province has announced that it will remove all automated speed-enforcement cameras across the region in the next two weeks, calling the devices an outdated “cash grab” and promising a new approach to road safety.
More: Speed Limiters Might Soon Decide How Fast Some Are Allowed To Drive
For years the little boxes by school zones and busy suburban roads have triggered a mix of anger and shrugging acceptance. Some drivers felt they were simply doing their job of slowing traffic, catching excessive speeders and generally making roads safer without the need for extra police.
Why The Sudden U-Turn?
However, the system’s critics argued the cameras were more about raising revenue than safety, and the government has made that case its focus. Ontario premier Doug Ford himself called the cameras a “cash grab,” arguing they do little to curb speeding and instead saddle drivers with fines that arrive long after the fact.
Last Thursday it voted to pass legislation banning speed cameras and remove them from roads within two weeks after a spate of vandal attacks on the devices.
Their place will be taken by physical traffic-calming measures including speed bumps, roundabouts and signs with flashing lights, though Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria has not laid out a timeline for their installation.
That kind of infrastructure costs money, rather then generates it, and Ontario premier Ford claims his administration will come up with a fund to help municipalities pay for it. But so far he’s not said how much cash will be available or where it’s coming from.
The legislation to ban the cameras was bundled into a red tape reduction bill, CBC reports, mean it got little debate time and no public hearings on its way to the statute books.
And the idea of banning cameras is very different from the thinking in Maryland, where a new tiered fine system could land some drivers with $425 fines.
Concerns Over The Safety Gap
While drivers might see the move as a cause for celebration, not everyone is delighted. Many believe speed cameras do work to cut accidents a claim supported by multiple studies.
Others are also concerned about the gap that will exist between the cameras getting the chop and the traffic-calming measures being installed.
“There’s lots of different things we can do, certainly, to slow people down,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles told CBC. “But I’m telling you, if one pedestrian, if one kid, is injured in the interim, it is going to be on this premier’s shoulders.”
