海角社区官网

“This听is a very popular political issue that is void of facts,” said Etobicoke Centre Coun. Stephen Holyday, who pushed council in July to require clearer signage to warn drivers at camera sites. “We should fix (the cameras) and ask for forgiveness first, before abandoning it.”

Ford has dismissed the devices as a “cash grab” and wants to look at other options to slow down traffic, despite听repeated studies showing听that automated speed cameras听鈥� authorized by his government in 2019听鈥� slow vehicles and reduce bad driver behaviour.

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

Holyday said he’s worried that outright cancellation of the cameras will enable deliberate speeders and also what Ford’s alternate remedy for speeding could mean for traffic-clogged streets. “Bike lanes, speed humps, stop signs, chicanes on roads where there never was a problem 鈥� I think when people start to see the delay to every driver, it will be a worse situation.”

Holyday added that there is “a lot of room” to improve Toronto’s speed cameras, such as making it cost neutral, ensuring听Toronto’s 150 cameras operate only during school hours and changing the speed that triggers a ticket.

Coun. Anthony Perruzza, who in July听raised a stink calling some cameras “speed traps,”听said he understands the “populist” premier’s decision听鈥� but the city should be trying to fix the problems first with clearer signage and ample warnings to drivers.

The Parkside speed camera, which has been cut down multiple times,听leading to others being vandalized around the city, has issued the most tickets in 海角社区官网by far, with 68,592 since it was installed in April 2022, according to city data.

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, who said the cameras have reduced speeding by 74 per cent in his town, is working with other mayors and their provincial lobby group to craft a compromise to convince Ford not to scrap the devices altogether.

Ford could, for example, put significant provincewide limits on their use, such as only in school zones during school hours, only ticketing at a certain speed over the limit, and a significant cap on the number of portable cameras each municipality could use, Taylor said.

Mayor Olivia Chow, after a long sigh, defended Toronto’s speed cameras at an unrelated press conference Wednesday.

鈥淪peed kills. Torontonians, especially those most vulnerable like children, need to be safe. And we know speed cameras work,鈥� said Chow.

She didn鈥檛 say what, if any, action she would take to try to deter the premier from scrapping the program. Her office said Tuesday she is waiting to see the legislation.

Out of 25 sitting 海角社区官网city council members, 20 others responded to the Star’s requests for comment saying Ford is making the wrong move. Nearly all replied with concern, anger or irritation, calling Ford’s decision reckless, dangerous and most described it as a ploy to score political points.

“It’s anti-science, anti-safety, anti-city. It’s a stupid distraction, yet again, similar to the bike lanes,” said Coun. Dianne Saxe, saying Ford should pay more attention to the province’s ailing health care and education sectors as well as Ontario’s economy.

Ford’s attempt to remove three major bike lanes in 海角社区官网triggered a successful court challenge the province is currently appealing.听

Bruce Ryder, a constitutional law expert at Osgoode Hall, told the Star that if the court ruling which has prevented Ford from removing the bike lanes is upheld on appeal, Ford’s push to outlaw speed cameras could be vulnerable to a similar challenge.听But, he noted, it will depend on how Ford eliminates the cameras and whether he can prove other safety measures will protect people.

“The right to life and security of the person in Section 7 of the Charter is potentially violated whenever governments or legislatures take action that increases risk of death or injury,” Ryder said.

A key part of the debate over the cameras is whether there is a threshold at which tickets are issued to people, such as 5 km/h or 10 km/h over the posted limit. 海角社区官网city staff won’t reveal that information, even to councillors, saying it would undermine the purpose of automated speed enforcement. (Each ticket is reviewed and signed off on by an officer so there is always some human discretion involved.)

Holyday said he understands city staff’s reasons, but that the premier, or council, could “easily” regulate those thresholds that are set using software.

Coun. Josh Matlow said he will move a motion at city council in early October听to create a “reasonable threshold” for those 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,” said Matlow.

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

Coun. Jon Burnside, a former police officer, believes Ford is “half right” about the speed camera devices. They are a useful tool, he said, but 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.