Less than a year after launching its automated speed enforcement pilot program, the County of Wellington may see it come to an end by order of the province.
On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford announced his government will soon table legislation to ban the use of speed cameras.
Gregg Davidson, County Roads Committee Chair and Mayor of Mapleton, said it's disappointing, as the county's seven cameras had proven effective at curbing dangerous driving.
"We launched a pilot in January 15 of this year, and it's been quite successful with the reduction of speed and vehicles in our community safety zones," he said. "We have seen a really good compliance rate with vehicles actually doing the speed limit or below. We were hoping to see it go further and unfortunately, that's not what's going to be happening."
Minto Mayor Dave Turton echoed Davidson's comment over email, writing that "the data gathered so far has proven that the cameras are slowing traffic and improved public safety." He also said the County Council has made no decisions on the ASE units considering Ford's comments.
Wellington County communities with ASE cameras include Palmerston, Mount Forest, and Drayton.
Premier Ford announced Thursday he planned to introduce legislation in October that will ensure speed cameras are no longer used as a form of revenue
Davidson disagreed with Premier Ford's assertion that the cameras were just a municipal "cash grab."
"Not once did we talk about it being a cash grab, or even look at the finances," he said. "Our goal has always been to reduce the speed of vehicles going through our community safety zones and in our case, school zones. Even though the program is going to be cancelled, the money and revenues that we did receive is going to be used to offset any costs associated with road safety measures."
A report from earlier this month found that 72 per cent of tickets issued by the cameras went to non-County residents.
During Thursday's announcement, the premier also tried to argue the cameras weren't an effective deterrent, saying better ways to slow people down included having a prominent police presence.
Davidson disagreed, saying the cameras were a useful tool that were endorsed by many.
"Unfortunately the provincial government has taken away this one tool we have as municipalities, but we're hopeful that what moves forward will work," he said. "It's unfortunate that they think about policing being the step, when the Ontario Association of Police Chiefs have come out and say they endorse automated speed enforcement. Being a former police officer, I know you can't be everywhere at the same time."
Ford did say the Ontario government would make funding available to municipalities to implement alternative safety measures, like speed bumps, roundabouts, raised crosswalks and curb extensions, but few details were offered.
