More than 4,200 tickets issued through red-light camera program in York Region

YorkRegion.com
June 12, 2014
Sean Pearce

A total of 4,252 red-light camera tickets have been issued in York Region since the system went live last fall.

The majority of the violations, 1,291, were photographed at the Bathurst Street ramp and Hwy. 7 intersection in Vaughan, where a red light camera has been in operation since Oct. 18, with the Yonge Street ramp and Hwy. 7 intersection in Richmond Hill coming in second with 717 chargeable incidents.

The fewest number of tickets, four, were issued via the red light camera at the intersection of King Road and Dufferin Street although it was only activated Feb. 6.

The 4,252 chargeable incidents represent less than a half of the 9,866 image sets snapped by the cameras, according to a report on the agenda for today’s regional committee of the whole meeting.

York’s director of traffic management and intelligent transportation systems, Steven Kemp, explained a number of criteria must be met to mail out a charge and that an obstructed licence plate, due to inclement weather or another vehicle, or a covered and/or obscured intersection stop bar can prevent an offence from being processed.

All of the photos taken are reviewed by a team of officers designated by the Ontario Transportation Ministry at the Joint Processing Centre in Toronto, who ultimately decide if charges will be laid in each case, Kemp said.

As well, the report notes the region’s red-light camera contractor tests the

equipment regularly to ensure it’s functioning properly.

Of the 4,252 tickets issued, 2,552 have been processed as of May, resulting in $663,520 in fines, of which $572,425 has been collected so far.

The report states the first trials in connection with red-light camera offence notices occurred at the end of March and the beginning of April and it goes on to state fines processed through a trial may take up to six additional months to collect and may vary in amount, based on several factors, including judicial discretion.

The amount of revenue collected so far is less than initially anticipated, Kemp said, but he expects it will still offset the $986,000 annual cost of operating the program, although there won’t likely be any surplus with which to fund other safety programs as had been considered.

That said, the cost of running the program does not include court costs, which increases the figure to about $3.7 million over two years, although Kemp remains confident the costs and revenues will balance out, pointing out the number of fines issued has increased each month, from 118 in October to 538 in May.

Money aside, Kemp and the region stress the program is meant to be a safety initiative first and foremost.

On that score, the region witnessed just 16 right angle or “T-bone” collisions, considered to be the most severe, at red-light camera locations between September and December 2013, representing a 57-per-cent decrease compared to the 35 that occurred during the same period in 2012.

However, as predicted, there was an upswing in the number of rear-end collisions at camera intersections around the region, going from 52 from September to December 2012 to 60 during the same period last year, for an increase of about 15 per cent.

“It’s early, but we are really happy with the way the program is going so far,” Kemp said, adding the decrease in right angle collisions is greater than expected, while the increase in less severe rear-end crashes has come in lower.

“There likely won’t be any decisions made on expanding the program until 2016 with respect to new locations or moving some of the cameras around, he added.

“Our hope is that our camera sites will gradually take less photos and that we’ll see less red light running.”