John Dance

Those who thought Main Street traffic was generally slow-moving and congested are rethinking their views now that the new speed camera has been installed at Main and Evelyn. In just the first 18 days of operation, 587 speeding tickets were issued against speeding motorists. Photo by John Dance

The new “automated speed enforcement” (ASE) camera near Immaculata High School on Main Street has made its presence felt for a lot of people since it began operation in November. After just 18 days of operation, the speed camera issued 587 tickets, the third most of the 10 new speed cameras that the city installed this past fall.

Reaction to the new device varies as can been seen in recent discussions on local Facebook pages. Many laud the new camera as a sound way of improving safety while others call it a “cash grab,” “super sneaky,” or “government surveillance.”

The city says, “speed cameras, much like red-light cameras, exist to reduce the risk of collisions. In Ottawa, these speed cameras are currently located in certain community safety zones, near schools or parks, where speeding is a risk to our most vulnerable road users, our children.” Because the speed cameras catch speeding drivers in a community safety zone, the fines are double what they are elsewhere. Fines begin at $5 per kilometre/hour (km/h) for 1 – 19 km/h over the limit. A $20 processing fee is also added. All revenue generated from tickets issued via the ASE program, net of the installation and operating costs, is reinvested into the City’s road safety action plan program which uses education, engineering and enforcement to promote road safety for all road users.

On Facebook, one resident suggested that some of the ASE revenues should be used to fund a crossing guard on Main Street, something sought for a number of years by local school councils. But the request for a crossing guard was rejected by the city because “(t)he study [of the crossing] found that the criteria to consider a crossing guard were significantly below the requirements.” In light of the number of speeders caught by the speed camera, some Facebook posters suggested the city is mistaken.

City-wide standards in force

A number of drivers have asked if the ASE equipment allows some “wiggle room,” “grace, or “margin of error” when a driver is slightly above the speed limit, but the city simply responded to the question noting, “Adherence to the posted speed limit is required by law. Driving at or below the speed limit will ensure a ticket is not issued.”

Another question is why tickets are issued over the Christmas holiday period, as they were, when schools were closed. “The reduced speed limits and applicable time periods for established school zones are standardized citywide,” states the city’s website. “On roadways where school zones have been designated, the reduced speed limit is in effect from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, September to June.”

“This consistent application of school zones promotes a city-wide understanding amongst motorists as to the days and times reduced speed limits are in effect, enhancing the safety of those travelling to and from school using alternative modes of transportation.”

“ASE cameras are one measure to help adjust driver behaviours, regardless of the time of day or day of the week,” Cathy Kourouma, the city’s program manager of road safety, told The Mainstreeter. “This helps promote consistent and safe driver behaviours, especially during times when there are higher volumes of vulnerable road users. Schools are often hubs for activities outside of school hours, through after-school programs, outdoor facilities, and bookings to external clients by the school boards.”

According to the city, the ASE program continues to expand as a result of sound results from the initial cameras. The city’s website notes that “(d)ata from a yearlong City of Ottawa pilot study showed that speed cameras had a positive impact on driver speed and safety in school zones [with] a 200 percent increase in compliance with the speed limit; 11 percent decrease in 85th percentile speed (the top speed or slower speeds at which 85 percent of traffic is travelling); and 72 percent decrease in drivers traveling at 15 km/h over the speed limit.”

Meanwhile The Globe and Mail recently published a lengthy editorial on speed cameras entitled “Speeding is the problem, not speed cameras,” and concluded, “No one is above the law not even drivers with a lead foot.”

But in Alberta, the government is removing speed cameras. Just 650 of the existing 2,200 speed cameras will still be in operation by April. According to the Calgary Herald, “Alberta transportation minister Devin Dreeshen has long referred to the use of photo radar to nab speeders along provincially controlled highways as a ‘cash cow,’ [but] members of Calgary’s policing communityclaim the decision will hinder traffic enforcement and potentially make it more dangerous for officers topatrol the roads.” Similar sentiments were expressed by Constable James Kennedy of Ottawa Police Services when he spoke at a recent community association meeting.

When a speed camera was first proposed for Main Street, a generalreaction was that Main Street traffic is congested and moves too slowly to allow for speeding. The speed camera appears to prove otherwise.