Speeding in areas near parks or schools creates a major safety risk for children and Kingston community members.
The City of Kingston is now looking into Ontario’s photo radar program as a possible tool to help.
“Speeding is an issue in the city,” says the city’s director of transportation, Ian Semple. “It has been identified as part of our road safety plan as a piece that we need to focus on. So, any tool that gives us some options to address that, we certainly want to explore to see if that’s a good option for the city.”
Automated speed enforcement (ASE) uses automated cameras to issue tickets to people that are speeding. Twelve Ontario municipalities have enrolled, or are in the process of enrolling, in the program so far.
Other municipalities have expressed interest, but are waiting for a provincial review.
“Certainly we’ll be looking at how the program is working in other municipalities. The ways in which, not only the tickets are being issued or the number of tickets, but if those tickets help actually reduce speed in those areas,” says Semple.
Speeding fines range from $5 per kilometre over the posted speed limit up to $12 per kilometre, plus court costs.
“The province is still completing a review of the program on how it’s been implemented in Ontario,” Semple says. “So, we’ll be bringing more information back to council later in 2022.”
Still in the early stages of assessment, Semple says the city is gathering information about the program to build a foundation should council wish to move forward in the future.