Road Ahead: York Region adding 20 more red-light cameras

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 31, 2015
By Jeremy Grimaldi

When red-light cameras were rolled out at 20 of the most dangerous intersections across the region, it was easy to call the move a cash grab.

But now, a year later and armed with impressive new facts, York Region hopes you will re-evaluate your position.

“This is based on science, not politics,” said Brian Titherington, the region’s director of road and traffic operations.

According to his office, there has been huge reductions in right-angle crashes - aka T-bones, by far the most dangerous - across a number of intersections in the region.

For example, at Green Lane and Yonge Street, between Newmarket and East Gwillimbury, collisions fell from 14 in 2013 to four in 2014.

At Hwy. 7 and Weston Road, they dropped from 15 to nine.

In all, Titherington said there has been an almost 50 per cent drop in collisions at all 20 intersections, falling from 71 collisions to 37.

“It’s a safety tool,” he added. “And we’re quite proud of the data is bearing that out.”

This is not the only information the region wants you to consider. He added that, so far, the project has been largely revenue neutral.

While it raised some $1.5 million from the $325 fines, the court costs are equal to or even outweigh that number, he said.

And Titherington said if anyone out there doubts that town staff get nailed like the rest of us, he said they do. To prove it, he explained how one of his staff has already paid the fine.

In 2016, the region will be adding 20 more cameras and switching some existing locations.

By 2017, those new cameras will be running, as long as council agrees with the budget.

So far, the busiest sites in terms of tickets include Bathurst and Hwy. 7, which up to date data indicates has doled out 2,469 tickets and Yonge and Hwy. 7, which has resulted in 1,057 tickets.

Although Titherington understands the cameras can be annoying for motorists, he said you can’t argue with safety statistics, especially when so many people are already dying on our roads.

“It frustrates people,” he admitted, “but numbers are numbers.”

He noted that once people start getting used to cameras being so prevalent, he expects the 50-per-cent drop in collisions will settle somewhere around a 30-per-cent reduction.

Some of the other jurisdictions that have red-light cameras include Toronto, Ottawa, Peel, Hamilton, Halton and Waterloo.