WELLINGTON COUNTY – County staff is recommending council not install more speed cameras due to hydro complications.
The county had planned to have 10 additional speed cameras operational by September as part of its automated speed enforcement (ASE) one-year pilot program.
That included four in Centre Wellington, three in Mapleton, two in Erin and one in Wellington North.
But based on infrastructure service needs and complications due to the hydro provider at some locations, county staff has recommended not proceeding with the additional sites at this time.
“Staff believe that the initial seven locations will provide the county sufficient traffic safety data and experience with ASE during the county’s one-year trial program,” states a May 13 roads committee report.
If council decides to continue with the ASE program beyond the trial period, staff recommend “additional sites be implemented strategically and carefully managed.”
The ASE program went live in five community safety zones on Jan. 15, and has generated $6.5 million from paid tickets to the end of April.
County treasurer Ken DeHart said the county’s share of that is just under $2.5 million.
Speed cameras working: county
The ASE program is “doing exactly what it was intended to do … curb speeding, alter driver behaviour and increase safety for the community,” states a May 15 press release from the county.
According to the release, between Jan. 15 and April 30, vehicle speed has been reduced on average by 17 per cent at the five trial locations across the county.
“Compliance with the posted speed limits at these locations has also improved, with a 66% increase in vehicles on average travelling at or lower than the posted speed limit,” the release continues.
Asked about the timing of the release, given the program is just four months into a 12-month pilot period, county engineer Don Kudo said, “I guess the reason why is really just to show the program is effective.
“Putting out some initial data and then the June report will have much more details of data.”
Asked if ticket fees could be reduced, given people appear to be slowing down, Kudo replied, “The fees are set by the province so … we don’t have control over what the fines are for the penalty orders.”
Kudo noted that between Jan. 15 and 19, at the start of the pilot program, about 7% of total traffic at ASE locations received tickets – and in April that figure was down to 2.4%.
Newspaper appeals FOI release
The Advertiser asked if the newspaper can view the raw data from which the county has drawn its conclusions, including the general stats provided in its May 15 release.
“At this time, no. I think the June report will show the numbers overall,” Kudo replied.
This is not the first time the county has been less than forthcoming regarding the program.
In March, the Advertiser filed a Freedom of Information request with the county seeking details of its agreement with speed camera vendor Global Traffic Group, as well as how the revenue will be split between them.
The county previously refused to provide the information.
On May 8, the Advertiser received a 15-page agreement from the county, but about 20% of the document was redacted – including two entire pages – under headings such as provision of services, fees, operation and maintenance, signage, administration, reporting and county responsibilities.
The majority of the remaining information is definitions and other legalese.
And one of the appendices listed in the agreement was missing from the document provided by the county.
The newspaper has appealed the county’s redactions and its omission with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
To view the redacted ASE agreement provided by the county click here.
‘Never about punishment’
“ASE has never been about punishment,” roads committee chair Gregg Davidson states in the county release.
“It’s been about education and keeping our communities safe.”
In an interview Davidson stated the release “wasn’t a rush [and] council members were just as curious as the public, as to … some of the results we’re having.”
“I think the public as a whole have come to realize that these cameras are in place and now we see the data showing there’s a reduction in speed [and] a reduction in number of individual vehicles given a ticket,” Davidson said.
When asked about changing ticket fees he replied, “We’re going to stick with the pilot program the way it’s situated right now.
“We’ve made the rules up and we’re going to stick with that until such a time we need to change it because of government regulation changes, or at the end of the pilot when we look at all the data.”
“We look forward to the full report.”
Camera delays
At the beginning of the project, seven trial locations were selected based on current traffic data. Five of the seven are live, with two being temporarily delayed.
The Hillsburgh and Rockwood speed camera locations were supposed to go online at the end of April, but are delayed due to hydro complications.
“They need an electric connection and all that has to be designed, approved and inspected,” Kudo stated.
“There’s quite a number of steps here to have the cameras installed go live.”
He is “still hopeful those cameras will be up by the end of the month.”
