海角社区官网

In the early morning hours Sunday, two Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras on Avenue Road, one near Oaklands Avenue and the other near Castlefield Avenue were cut down. As well, one near Mount Pleasant Road near South Drive joins the list of cameras that have been vandalized. Along with the Parkside Drive speed camera, which was taken down for the seventh time on Sept. 7, that puts the tally at 20 cameras that have been taken out in the past two weeks.

On Monday, a police officer with a radar gun was spotted by a pole on Parkside Drive trying to nab speeders.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 confirm whether there was an officer at that speed camera last night. However, as Chief Demkiw said last week, one of the steps we are taking is that we will be deploying officers to do enforcement in those areas where cameras have been cut down, and we鈥檙e going to complement the efforts of the city through Vision Zero with our efforts in enforcement,” said Nadine Ramadan, a senior communications adviser for 海角社区官网police.

The city says it is looking into ways to help keep more speed cameras in service.聽

“We are continuing to work with our vendor and the 海角社区官网Police Service on solutions to prevent future incidents of vandalism including remote monitoring of the camera systems to identify and respond to vandalism incidents more quickly, stronger poles for permanent cameras and other measures,” said Laura McQuillan, a spokesperson with the city of Toronto.聽

According to the city contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, who are responsible for maintaining and repairing the cameras, they have 30 business days to replace the downed devices. The city鈥檚 contract with Redflex is worth $36 million and in effect until 2029. The company has been busy, and according to the Canadian head, they are glad the investigation has been escalated by authorities.

鈥淭here has certainly been an increase in what I would call destruction of cameras at this point that is affecting not only private property, but also property that is procured using taxpayer dollars. There are a few bad actors that are causing flagrant destruction at this point, and now this is being prioritized by the city and the police department because these are crimes,鈥� said Matt Lumsden, business development manager for Canada, Redflex Traffic Systems.

With increased damage to the cameras, this additional property damage could make the next maintenance contract more expensive.

鈥淭he current contract with the city puts the responsibility of the cameras with us, and we’re committed to reinstalling these cameras as soon as possible ... We’ll address future contract potential when we get there, but right now we’re just focused on finding a person or people who are responsible for doing these things and getting the cameras back up so they can focus on what we do best and that’s saving lives,鈥� said Lumsden.

When asked about the negative sentiment surrounding the cameras, and some of those cheering them being taken down, often referred to as heroes or Robin Hood-like on social media feeds, Lumsden scoffs at the characterization.

鈥淚 would say that Robin Hood was someone who took from the rich and gave to the poor, and these are people that are destroying a tool that’s used to protect vulnerable populations’ lives. So, I would certainly not call them Robin Hood figures聽,鈥� said Lumsden.

That negative sentiment does have power though, especially when it鈥檚 being amplified by the premier of Ontario. Earlier this week, Vaughan City Council decided to get rid of the ten speed cameras that had been installed in May. In their first three weeks of service, more than 32,000 tickets were issued, triggering several complaints from residents.

Among the reasons cited in the controversial vote, Vaughan mayor Steven Del Duca said he wanted police to focus on 鈥渞eal criminals,鈥� that they were concerned about the affect of fines on people during a difficult economy and also comments from Premier Doug Ford who applauded Vaughan鈥檚 moves and said that “he would help communities get rid of them.鈥�

While Vaughan is getting rid of its 10 city-run speed cameras, there are still a number of cameras in the city operated by York Region, and on Tuesday, they released a number of stats from early data that shows that their cameras are having a positive effect on the regional roads they are monitoring.

Data from York Region鈥檚 20 cameras, in place since January, revealed that when cameras are active, vehicle speeds decrease by an average of 15 km/h, and compliance with posted speed limits increases by 25 per cent. By year end, total collisions are projected to be 53 per cent lower, from 175 annually to 93. As well, severe collisions with serious injuries have declined significantly, down from an annual average of 39 to 8 serious injuries, and penalties have decreased by 35 per cent since January.

On Thursday the Ontario Association of Police Chiefs released a statement saying they are in favour or using speed cameras.

“Ontario鈥檚 police leaders view ASE not as a revenue tool, but as a traffic safety tool. Its purpose is deterrence and prevention helping to change driver behaviour and reduce collisions.”聽