Red-light camera installation underway in London

The city has named the ten intersections where red light cameras will be installed in London, in hopes of curbing the number of collisions that happen each year as a result of drivers who run red lights.

In early 2016, city council approved a five-year program to install 10 cameras at major intersections in London for the start of 2017. Because of contract delays, city officials pushed back the start of the program until at least April.

According to London’s division manager of roadway lighting and traffic control Shane Maguire, the cameras will be stationary at those ten locations and clearly marked by signage. Earlier in the decision making process, there was talk of rotating the cameras through 22 intersections in London.

That system was preferable, according to one councillor.

“When you have red light cameras that are rotating through different locations and people aren’t sure (if) there’s a camera at this red light or not,” Ward 10 Councillor Virginia Ridley said. “I expect people would be more cautious at all red lights and all intersections. Now that they’re labeled, I know we’ll see people being more cautious where they’re labeled–at those specific intersections.”

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The system works like this: when a vehicle enters an intersection on a red light, the camera snaps a picture and a violation is issued to the vehicle’s owner. Owners of vehicles caught running a red will receive a $325 ticket, including a $60 victim surcharge.

City officials say the goal of the red-light camera program is to improve safety by reducing the number of right-angle collisions. According to the city’s website, almost 280 collisions per year are the result of red-light running.

Ridley said she hopes people will still approach all intersections with caution.

“I think there’s still a benefit to the program,” she said. “In my mind, it’s a little bit more reduced. I saw a widespread benefit when people just knew that there would be red light cameras at intersections. But now that we know which intersections, my hope is that drivers still are cautious around all intersections, and not just the ones that are marked.”

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The following intersections are included in the red-light camera program:

Commissioners Road E at Wellington Road
Dundas Street at Clarke Road
Exeter Road at Wharncliffe Road S
Huron Street at Highbury Avenue N
Oxford Street W at Wonderland Road N
Oxford Street E at Adelaide Street N
Queens Avenue at Adelaide Street N
Queens Avenue at Talbot Street
Springbank Drive at Wonderland Road S
Windermere Road at Richmond Street
The first intersection is expected to be operational by the beginning of May.

Staff expect city hall to collect roughly $4.5 million in ticket revenue over the course of the five-year program. It would be more than enough to cover the $3.8 million cost of the program, with anything left over being used to fund future road safety initiatives.

Editors Note: The story has been updated to reflect that red-light cameras will not be rotating among 22 intersections in London, as previously reported.