‘Moving too slow’: regional councillors want more speed camera sites and not just around schools

The regional speed enforcement program has one camera rotating among 16 schools sites, while an increase to 32 school sites will add two cameras

Thestar.com
Feb. 13, 2023
Liz Monteiro

Waterloo Region could see the doubling of speed camera sites in school zones from 16 to 32 later this year.

At a recent regional committee meeting, councillors supported a plan to increase the speed camera program and come up with a “road map” to add speed camera sites at all 175 schools in the region in the future.

For many councillors, the program isn’t moving fast enough.

Speeding is a top concern for constituents and not solely in school zones, said Coun. Rob Deutschmann. It’s an issue he heard loud and clear from residents while knocking on doors during last fall’s municipal election.

The speed camera program appears to be “moving at a glacial pace,” he said.

Increasing from 16 to 32 sites, means the region will have two cameras. One camera rotates among 16 school sites. Thirty-two sites does not mean 32 cameras, Deutschmann said.

“This is moving too slow,” he said. “Thirty-two sites means we’re moving two cameras around to 32 sites. That’s not sufficient. That’s not safe for our community. We have to move faster on this.”

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic agreed that the program needs to be expanded and the existing sites are “not meeting our needs right now.” The City of Toronto had 75 cameras, he said.

The speed camera program began in the region in October 2021. That year, 2,244 tickets were issued and in 2022, 9,788 tickets were issued, a report presented to council said.

The purpose of the program is to slow down drivers and data collected since the automated speed enforcement began shows speeds have reduced on average by five kilometres per hour, some sites seeing a reduction of nine km/h.

The photo radar system uses a camera to capture and record images of vehicles going faster than the posted limit.

After a robust discussion on speed camera sites, staff agreed to continue their discussions with third-party providers to process the tickets as well as look into the region’s own processing system for penalties.

Transportation services commissioner Mathieu Goetzke said the region’s ability to move more quickly “is capped by our capacity to process the number of offences.”

Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe said speeding is an urgent matter and she wants a “really aggressive” approach on the issue.

“We need to move faster,” she said. “I could use more than 32 in Waterloo.”

Regional councillors in the townships said they, too, want the speed enforcement program fast-tracked and not just in front of schools but expanded to other parts of the community.

Speeding occurs often as motorists drive in and out of the village of Wellesley, said Wellesley Mayor Joe Nowak.

Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz said rural communities continue to wait for the issue of speeding to be addressed.

“We have been waiting for a long time,” she said. “We need to deal with this. We can’t keep putting it off.”

The 16 school sites are: Cedar Creek Public School in Ayr; Foundation Christian School in Winterbourne; Franklin Avenue Public School in Kitchener; Keatsway Public School in Waterloo; Laurentian Public School in Kitchener; New Dundee Public School in New Dundee; St. Clements Catholic School in Wellesley Township; and St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge; Sandhills Public School in Kitchener; Westheights Public School in Kitchener; Wellesley Public School in Wellesley Township; Sir Edgar Bauer Catholic School in Waterloo; Sir Adam Beck Public School in Baden; Clearview Mennonite School in Woolwich; Elgin Street Public School in Cambridge; and St. Brigid Catholic School in North Dumfries Township.