Dear Editor:
I have been following the discussion on Wellington County’s photo radar trial with bemusement.
First, in the spirit of full disclosure I received a ticket on Belsyde in Fergus at 6pm on a Saturday night for going 51km an hour in the community safety zone. That said, I am not opposed to the initiative.
I am just surprised council insists this has nothing to do with raising money, going so far as to allocate the new funds to a new use.
There has to be a limit to how much cash can go to road safety studies.
Given the impending tax increases why not use the new revenue to offset other tax increases.
This may be a tax, but it is a voluntary tax. You only have to pay it if you choose to exceed the speed limit.
Its difficult to believe council that this is purely a safety issue.
The signage is definitely there but they are not obvious. There was concern about bigger signs “littering” the street. It’s hard to believe council said we need to put in cameras to ensure safety but bigger signs littering the roadside are a bridge too far for children’s safety.
This is particularly puzzling as I counted 11 no parking signs in the community safety zone going eastward on Belsyde. Perhaps we could take down a couple of no parking signs and make the camera signs a bit bigger.
I noticed going westward that the construction signs and business open (for construction on St David Street) signs are much bigger than the camera signs. Is construction more than a kilometer away a higher priority than children’s safety?
It is good to hear that average speeds have gone down. I wonder, however, if the cameras have diverted local traffic.
I read calls for traffic calming measures on Belsyde but expect that would make things worse.
I drove down Millburn and there seemed to be more traffic moving faster.
Will safety studies even identify that given Millburn and Union Streets are municipal streets while Belsyde is owned by the county?
School is out in the summer and with the water park on Millburn this diversion of traffic actually increases risk.
I expect we will hear calls for increased enforcement. If that wasn’t effective on Belsyde will it work on Millburn, Union, or Highliand?
If it is about safety or even tax, perhaps a more integrated and comprehensive safety plan would have been warranted. One wonders why that hasn’t happened.
Michael von Massow,
Elora