GUELPH – A new automated speed enforcement (ASE) policy will be making its way to a county council meeting this week.
According to a road committee report, treasury staff have been working on a revenue usage policy to provide details on the ASE process, revenue usage, budgeting and reporting.
The policy was presented to the administration, finance and human resources (AFHR) committee for approval at its meeting on April 15.
Upon approval the committee added “that when developing the next year’s capital program, staff give consideration to areas generating significant speeding infractions.”
The AFHR “will propose to use any net proceeds from the ASE revenue to put towards capital projects that improve road safety and measures to manage speed,” the report stated.
“The total amount of fines collected to the end of March is $4 million with just over $1.5 million being the county’s share,” stated county treasurer Ken DeHart.
Projects can include but are not limited to:
- installing speed radar signs;
- undertaking speed monitoring and traffic studies;
- installing and upgrading pedestrian crosswalks, traffic signals and guard rails;
- installing curbs;
- paving shoulders;
- narrowing lane widths; and
- constructing roundabouts.
“The prioritization of projects is done through the capital budget process. Some of the projects in the capital budget were prioritized based on the County’s Road Master Action Plan Speed Management Corridor reviews and Intersection Assessment study,” county engineer Don Kudo told the Advertiser in an April 16 email.
“Since it is unknown at this time the amount of ASE revenue that will be generated from the one-year ASE trial, it is premature to determine what projects will be funded from ASE revenue,” he explained.
According to DeHart, the need to have a policy came up in discussions with some members of council in March.
“Some members of the senior management team met towards the end of March, early April and the policy and report was developed since the beginning of the month,” he continued.
As for how this will effect residents, DeHart stated, “The policy provides clarity over how the county’s share of the funds will be used, which are in accordance with provincial guidelines released by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), Safety Policy and Education Branch.”
ASE reporting
The county has an ASE administrative penalty agreement with the MTO. One of the sections of the agreement is the monitoring of “safety effectiveness” with respect to the ongoing monitoring of ASE devices.
The reporting was broken into four categories: reporting requirements, collision reporting, vehicle speed data and administrative penalty data.
The requirements include semi-annual reports no later than six months after the reporting periods of Jan. 1 to June 30 and July 1 to Dec. 31.
A semi-annual report is due to the MTO after June 30.
However in order to provide an ASE trial monitoring report for the committee’s information, staff intend to provide a preliminary report on the available date to the county’s roads committee at the June meeting, stated the report.
The collision reporting includes the need for municipalities to report on all motor vehicle collisions that occur within road segments adjacent to an ASE device, including injury and property damage information.
Reporting on vehicle speed data features “semi-annual reports detailing vehicle speed for all vehicles observed by ASE devices,” the report stated.
And according to the administrative penalty data, municipalities need to provide a breakdown of the number of vehicles passing ASE devices, number of vehicle images, number of penalty orders reviewed by a screening officer and hearing officers, and number of repeat contraventions for the same registered vehicle owner.
The finalization and submission of the report to the MTO will then be completed after June 30. The policy will be reviewed by county council on April 24.
