Brant County staff hope new automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras will help make roads safer around schools and other community safety zones.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Setup for the first photo-radar camera is slated to begin as soon as this month — but it won’t start doling out tickets until the new year.
The county plans to install three such cameras before the end of 2025, starting with the school zone on Silver Street, heading westbound in front of North Ward elementary school, the policy development committee heard on Tuesday night.
It sees a high-volume of vehicular and foot traffic, with frequent complaints of speeding trucks, according to the county’s business case for ASE.
Data previously collected on the street indicated up to 4,659 monthly incidents of speeding — or around 150 daily infractions.
Starting September or October, the county will begin a three-month data collection and officer training period. Although the system is automated, a screening officer and provincial offenses officer are needed to administer the program, councilors heard.
Advertisement 3
Article content
No tickets will be issued at that time, but come the new year, “to avoid a ticket, drive the speed limit,” Adam Crozier, director of corporate strategy for the county, told councillors.
People caught speeding will be billed between $5 and $19.50 for each kilometer over the speed limit, depending on how high over the limit they are, Crozier told councillors.
“Signs notifying the public that ASE is coming soon will be installed in early October, at least 90 days before ticketing, which will start in January,” the county told The Spectator in an email.
The county anticipates the tickets will fund the program — an annual cost of around $367,000 assuming monthly violations drop by 80 per cent over the first year, or $740,000 if violations only decrease by 50 per cent over the first year.
Advertisement 4
Article content
The discrepancy is because more provincial offense officers are needed to manage the program when there are higher violations, Crozier told councillors.
The county has been considering the safety measure since the end of 2019 and, with the recent adoption of a municipal administrative penalties system (APS), it will have the means to handle any appeals the cameras generate in-house.
The county anticipates it will serve between around 1,800 and 3,000 tickets in the first month, with the expectation that the number will continually decrease as people get dinged and, in turn, comply with the speed limit, according to the business case.
“The overarching message here is not to generate revenue; it is to slow down vehicles,” Crozier said.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
Article content