Photo radar will be the next tool to be deployed in the ongoing effort to reduce speeds and improve safety along King and Main streets.
The city confirms that its automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras, which have rotated throughout Hamilton over the past couple of years, will be placed along portions of King Street and Main Street in early 2023.
Acting manager of transportation operations Mike Field said the cameras are in addition to traffic calming measures already taken along the busy thoroughfares, including a reduction in the number of live lanes, allowing for more street parking and right turn restrictions.
“I like to think of the Swiss cheese model,” says Field. “One layer of cheese has lots of holes but when you start putting a piece of cheese on top of a piece of cheese, the holes fill up.”
The cameras will be placed along King Street and Main Street near Highway 403, where Field says speeds tend to be higher, and in the area of Gage Park, where there’s more foot traffic.
Based on data received from areas where the cameras have been located, Field stresses that it’s a “really effective” tool.
“Areas that we’ve put them out on that had previous speeding issues are basically solved once the cameras are out there,” said Field. “After the cameras leave there’s a residual effect — those speeds are changed for a period of time, even when the camera is removed.”
The extra attention that is being paid to safety along Main and King is in response to a spike in pedestrian fatalities earlier this year.
As of Aug. 12, there had been 15 traffic deaths in Hamilton for 2022, with nine pedestrian fatalities.
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