BY: Surjit Singh Flora
BRAMPTON, ON – City Councillor Jeff Bowman (Wards 3 & 4), introduced a motion on Dec 4th’s Committee of Council meeting to have photo radar cameras installed and activated in school zones.
“Now that the provincial government provides municipalities the ability to adopt new and enhanced tools to promote safety, it is our responsibility to take advantage of any opportunity to make our communities safer,” said Councillor Bowman.
“As a City Councillor, I receive daily calls and emails from concerned residents about drivers speeding through their neighbourhoods,” said Councillor Bowman. “Families are fearful that their children or elderly parents could be harmed by cars speed racing or driving too fast.
As of November 29, 2019, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has confirmed they will be filing enabling regulations under the ‘Safer School Zones Act,’ giving cities the power to introduce and implement photo radar cameras, detectors and equipment to employ automated speed enforcement. The province recognizes municipal governments are in the best position to determine what needs to be done to improve road safety on municipal roads.
“My motion calls on the Mayor and Members of Council to send a request to the Attorney General of Ontario, suggesting to waive the 90-day posting period of warning signs prior to the induction of photo radar equipment and being implementation within 45-days so Brampton can act quickly,” said Councillor Bowman. “We’re taking immediate action – we want drivers to slow down and don’t want to wait any longer to see change.”
The motion passed unanimously, and City staff will report back with recommendations and an implementation plan by early 2020; and any associated costs of implementation are to be included in the 2020 budget requests by the appropriate departments.
