海角社区官网

“Speed kills. Torontonians, especially those most vulnerable like children, need to be safe. And we know speed cameras work,” said Chow, who started her answer with a long sigh. She cited that found the devices significantly reduced speeding and aggressive driving.

鈥淎nd that is why 海角社区官网will always support having speed cameras to make sure that our most vulnerable are protected.鈥�

However, the mayor didn鈥檛 say what, if any, action she would take to try to deter the premier from scrapping the program, which his own government enabled through regulations passed in 2019. Her office said Tuesday she was waiting to see the legislation.

Ford has dismissed the devices as a “cash grab” and wants to look at every other option on how to slow down traffic, despite the province being responsible for setting the fines and repeated studies showing automated speed cameras reduce bad driver behaviour.

Speed is the main determining factor in whether someone dies after being hit by a car. “Speeding and aggressive driving put your life and the lives of others in danger, and it鈥檚 never worth it,” says .

While the province sets the rules around the speed camera system, including signage and that they have to be installed in community safety zones, it is the city that decides where those zones are designated, including near schools.

A key part of the debate over the cameras is whether there is a threshold at which they start automatically ticketing people, such as 5 km/h or 10 km/h over the posted limit. 海角社区官网city staff won’t say, not even to local elected officials, because they said it would undermine the purpose of automated speed enforcement.

Coun. Josh Matlow said Ford is “playing political games with the safety of our kids.” The midtown councillor said he will be moving a motion at city council in early October聽to create a “reasonable threshold” for fines and direct city staff to let the public know what that threshold is.

“It’s entirely hypocritical of the premier, who calls himself a supporter of the police and law and order, to abandon one of the very tools that the police are advising us to use to support community safety,” Matlow said.

Coun. Jon Burnside聽believes Ford is “half right” about the speed camera devices. The former police officer said automated speed cameras are a useful tool, but that the city and 海角社区官网police have relied on them too much. Still, “elimination goes too far.”

“Photo radar should be supplementing regular police traffic enforcement, not replacing it,” Burnside said.

“Last I checked, drive-by shootings, auto thefts and car jackings are all done by people driving cars.”

Burnside noted that the problem is that speed limits are too low in some areas of the city to begin with. “I don’t think anyone would complain if someone doing 70 in a residential area got a ticket. The issue is people are getting ticketed for going 40 km/h because the speed limit is 30.”

海角社区官网police Chief Myron Demkiw declined to weigh in on the speed camera debate on Wednesday. While the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police said earlier this month the cameras have been shown to improve road safety, asked about the issue at Chow鈥檚 press conference Demkiw demurred.

鈥淚 don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on the premier’s considerations,鈥� he said.

According to the chief, the force remains 鈥渓aser focused鈥� on enforcing driving laws, using a 鈥渉olistic鈥� approach that involves many strategies, 鈥渟peed cameras being one.鈥�

He said the city and the police would have to have a discussion about how to address bad driving behaviour if the cameras are removed.

Coun. Gord Perks, whose ward houses the Parkside Drive speed camera that has been repeatedly cut down, said: “Every Torontonian should be outraged that the premier of Ontario is going to put lives at risk to score political points.”

Street cameras are one tool among many to reduce speed, Perks said, pointing to a host of measures on Parkside such as lowering the speed limit, adding traffic lights and allowing parked cars in the curb lanes.

“Our next step is reconstructing the street to put bike lanes in but we’re frustrated there too, because the province is making it impossible,” he said.

More to come.