By Cecilia Nasmith
The role of photo radar – or Automated Speed Enforcement, as the provincial program is known – cannot be disputed in its effectiveness at reducing speeds in school and community safety zones.
However, the program the provincial government introduced in late 2020 has become stalled and Northumberland County cannot join it.
That conundrum was discussed at county council's Public Works standing committee Monday, with Director of Public Works Denise Marshall bringing everyone up to date.
The province's Automated Speed Enforcement Program (as the photo radar program is known) was introduced in seven Ontario municipalities about a year and a half ago to reduce speeding in designated school zones and community safety zones.
Implementation involves installation of cameras (which can be rotated to be deployed in different areas) that stand ready to shoot the license plate number of any speeding vehicle. The photograph is verified, and a ticket is mailed to the registered owner of the car. The ticket can be paid or challenged through the municipality's Provincial Offences Court.
The program has seen an impact from COVID-19, notably at the Joint Processing Centre, which is operating at reduced capacity Not only can it not accommodate additional municipalities, it has requested a cap on the number of violations a municipality can process in a year.
This might potentially change by the end of the year, Marshall said, noting there are other possible changes that might result with legislation that is coming forward.
With the costs of equipment, ticket processing, administration and other operating costs, Marshall's report said, this will not be a revenue-generating program. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that some of the costs seem to be variable in nature.
The good news is the positive impact it has. Early indications show that, even when a camera is rotated out of one area into another, speeds in the previous area tend to remain lower.
Many uncertainties surround the program just now, with pending legislation and an upcoming provincial election. One proposal might be to introduce Administrative Monetary Penalties, a move which will bypass the court system and permit municipalities to adjudicate offences. This would operate similarly to how parking tickets are issued and processed.
By eliminating the one-time entry fee to have the program run through the Joint Processing Centre ($100,000 per municipality for the ones that have signed on so far), this would make the program more accessible to municipalities. On the other hand, going the AMP route increases municipal costs in terms of things like staffing resources.
Warden Bob Crate noted a few fine points, such as the fact that Automated Speed Enforcement would be available only to community safety zones on county roads – of which there are 11, Marshall said. If a municipality wants ASE for a school or community safety zone on a municipal road, it has to enroll with the Joint Processing Centre separately.
Crate also noted that the traditional speeding ticket carries a fine that, if it remains unpaid, hampers the holder's ability to renew a driver's license. If they go with the AMP system, he wondered, what authority would the municipality have to collect?
“My understanding is, we have less enforcement options and it becomes more of a collection activity, because it's not attached to the driver – it's attached to the vehicle,” Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore said.
“We don't have that same authority to go after licenses and renewals.”
“We can have those discussions if we start down this road further,” committee chair Brian Ostrander said.
Regardless of what obstacles and costs may be part of Automated Speed Enforcement, Deputy Mayor Mandy Martin thinks it is worth pursuing.
“Number one, this works. I mean, it works,” Martin said.
“There's a bit of blowback, but responses coming back from the municipalities is that it is reducing speeds. Even when they move the camera, it reduces speeds.
“When I consider efforts and staff time and resources we put into other programs trying to get speed down, I find here's a program that actually works. So I think it deserves a little more attention than just saying administratively it's impossible. That is not how we look at things. If this works, if it's actually effective, why are we not looking at it from that perspective?”
While Martin's take on the report is that it was setting out the reasons why the county should not get involved, Ostrander noted that the delay is due to the uncertain status of the governing legislation at this point.
“I agree this does work, but there's no sense investing in a program at the moment that we won't be able to use. I think we have to wait, and likely we have to wait for a provincial election to happen and a new cabinet to be solidified,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I'm not hearing, 'Let's not do do it.' I'm hearing, 'This is a good program. Let's do it when the time is right,' and the time should be right in a few months.”
“Exactly,” Marshall agreed.
There is no AMP structure in place and the Joint Processing Centre is not accepting new municipalities, so this offers a window to review data, get more of a handle on those variable costs and plan implementation strategies. This is something that will take more time than might otherwise be expected, because municipalities using the Joint Processing Centre are larger ones like the GTA and Durham Region, whose traffic volumes have little in common with those in Northumberland County.
“When we actually come forward with how we want to recommend moving forward with this program and implementing it, we will have more on costs from a staffing and resource perspective,” Marshall said.
