Ontario Prepares to Institute Automated Speed Enforcement Systems
It goes without saying — speeding is dangerous, especially in residential areas. That’s why Ontario recently approved municipalities to use photo radar systems to enforce speed limits near schools and communities.
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The new regulations seek to help municipalities develop effective strategies to combat dangerous driving. Toronto, in particular, has been pushing for automated speed enforcement to help eliminate traffic fatalities as part of its Vision Zero initiative.
In 2018, Toronto instituted data-gathering traffic radars in many local school zones. These devices could only monitor traffic, not charge fines. However, the revised policy will allow traffic monitors to ticket speeders.
Steps toward implementation
Before the changes go into effect, municipalities are required to put up signs 90 days prior to the automated speed enforcement system becoming operational. Furthermore, the usage of automated speed enforcement systems is completely optional, and up to each municipality.
“Automated speed enforcement is a municipally driven initiative as municipal governments are in the best position to determine what needs to be done in order to improve road safety on municipal roads,” reads a statement by Ivana Yelich, the press secretary of Premier Doug Ford.
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Plans for Toronto
Toronto intends to roll out these safety tools as soon as possible. The Queen City’s mayor, John Tory, has eagerly awaited this policy for the last four years.
“It’s a step forward because we need automated speed enforcement to get people to slow down,” Tory explained. Despite the city lowering speed limits, dangerous driving persists. Since the city can’t reasonably station a police officer on every street, Tory has high hopes that the automated systems will urge drivers to slow down.
“I think that the notion of people getting a pretty big fat ticket, and their insurance company will know about it, I think this is going to do a lot to slow people down,” Tory remarked.
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