COUNTY OF WELLINGTON - County council supported Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson’s call on directing staff to research the use of automated speed enforcement in school zones and community safety zones.
At Thursday’s virtual meeting, council was in favour of Davidson’s motion, which he introduced at the Jan. 27’s virtual meeting, to direct county staff to conduct a cost and benefits analysis on automated speed enforcement (ASE).
Davidson noted that the province has authorized the use of ASEs in municipalities since 2017 to address ongoing issues with speeding in school zones and community safety zones.
Automated speed enforcement uses a camera and a speed measurement device to detect and capture images of vehicles travelling faster than the posted speed limit.
“The county and all of its lower tier municipalities are concerned about the safety and well-being of its citizens and visitors,” said Davidson while presenting his motion.
“Speeding is also a major concern for many county residents, and automated speed enforcement provides an effective means of ensuring road safety and compliance with the law.”
Davidson explained in his motion that evidence-based research provincially, nationally, and internationally indicate that the use of ASEs reduces the overall speed on affected roadways and therefore has potential to enhance road safety.
“The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police also calls for the expansion and mandated use of automated speed enforcement,” he said.
In his motion, Davidson wants county staff to complete a cost and benefit analysis of both permanent locations or by rotation of cameras in community safety and school zones.
He also wants staff to continuously have discussions with municipalities on the study and bring back all the reports to the roads committee for further discussion.
County council unanimously supported the motion with many indicating that the majority of correspondence they receive from area residents are about speeding issues.
“I support this. Davidson put together a good motion. The timing is good as we have just finished wrapping up the RMAP and this tool can be implemented since we just issued new community safety zones all over the county,” explained Coun. Jeff Duncan.
“Essentially, this motion is just asking staff to put together full information for the council first before we make any decision.”
Meanwhile, Coun. Earl Campbell, who is also a volunteer firefighter for Mapleton Fire, wanted staff to look into how ASEs will work in school zones near fire stations.
“I support this, but I am a volunteer firefighter for Mapleton Fire and we have two school zones right beside our fire station,” Campbell explained.
“Sometimes we have to speed when answering a call due to its nature. I’m just wondering how the speed enforcement will work when this occurs. I’d like county staff to look into this.”
Coun. Chris White noted that this is a good motion and many lower-tier municipalities will piggyback on what the county decides in regards to the implementation of speed enforcement as speeding is a county-wide issue.
