Dr. Carrie Mitchell, Associate Professor of Planning at the University of Waterloo is inviting Ontario municipalities to provide their data on how the removal speed cameras (Automated Speed Enforcement – ASE) in Ontario have affected road safety. The title of her research is “After the Cameras: The Policy and Safety Impacts of Removing Automated Speed Enforcement in Ontario“. The announcement reported on the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP) included the following description:
“This study will examine how vehicle speeds, volumes, and collision patterns changed before, during, and after the 2025 ASE policy rollback under Bill 56. The goal is to provide the first systematic, empirical assessment of the safety and policy impacts associated with removing ASE from Community Safety Zones across Ontario.”
The result of the research will provide a report of the results to the municipalities. However there has been no mention of whether the results will be provided to the public. In theory municipalities work for the benefit of the public and all employees of these municipalities are funded by public taxes. But when it comes to releasing the results of their studies municipalities are secretive, even when it involves such crucial matters as public safety.
Dubious behaviors of politicians have led to a battleground between governments. Ontario Premier Doug Ford made it unlawful to operate speed cameras in Ontario’s municipalities because he called them “cash grabs”. But no one has publicly explained why this comment was made. Most likely it is because third party companies who operated the cameras on a profit basis were splitting their money with municipalities that allowed them to operate. It is also reasonable to believe that those profits were generated from a lower speeding threshold so that more citizens would be fined. If the camera programs were operated properly the speeding threshold could be increased and thus would capture only those citizens who travel at dangerously high speeds. But then there would be fewer drivers who would be fined and profits would diminished. Is this what Doug Ford was referring to?
But by abolishing speed cameras altogether Ford has made matters worse than they were. Now it may be very difficult to capture speeding drivers when police budgets have not anticipated more police personnel required to monitor and ticket speeding drivers. And, unlike speed cameras, police cannot be present at a location 24-hours-a-day, seven days of the week.
The research announced by Professor Mitchell is important but the results must not be hidden within municipal files and must be released to the public who should have the last say through their voting ballot.
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