The day before speed cameras in cities across Ontario are set to be turned off, the Ford government has announced it will put aside $210 million for traffic calming measures like signs and speed bumps.
The fund was promised when Premier Doug Ford first said he would force cities to remove their cameras, saying physical infrastructure to make drivers slow down is more effective than fining people caught speeding.
The province has said the fund would be available to the 42 municipalities which have installed speed cameras. An initial amount of $42 million will be immediately available and divided based on the existing programs, with Toronto likely to receive the most.
The remaining $168 million will be shared among municipalities after they complete plans in the new year and will be based on the applications they submit. The money can be spent on speed bumps, raised crosswalks, roundabouts, high-visibility signage and increased police enforcement.
“Ontario has some of the safest roads in North America and our new Road Safety Initiatives Fund will build on this record by ensuring municipalities have the resources they need to implement proven traffic-calming measures without making life more expensive for drivers,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said in a statement on Thursday.
The legislation, which bans speed cameras beginning Friday, raced through the legislative process. In just two weeks, it went from being introduced to receiving Royal Assent, bypassing the committee stage.
The government said that haste was “in response to public concerns over the increased use of municipal speed cameras.” A poll distributed by the premier’s office, however, said only four per cent of 2,000 people polled said speed cameras were something that stood out to them about the Ford government.
Friday’s ban will complete a whirlwind legislative push from the Ford government against automated speed enforcement, which began in early September.
That was when Ford began railing against the devices and musing about how to remove them, calling them a “tax grab” and telling reporters he didn’t believe they would work.
The push to ban speed cameras has been welcomed by some mayors — including Steven Del Duca of Vaughan — but has faced pushback from others.
A study from SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University over the summer found speed cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent in Toronto.
The legislation effectively reverses a law introduced in 2017 by now-Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca when he was Ontario Liberal transportation minister.
The law was activated by Ford’s government in December 2019. At that time, it introduced the regulations required to let cities start issuing fines.