Surjit Singh Flora
This week, new data from Mississauga shows that speeding offenders have been reduced.
Launched July 5, The City of Mississauga’s Automated Speed Enforcement Camera (ASE) program has decreased speeds and heightened respect for speed limits along two streets near school zones, the city-states.
New stats released Tuesday by the city show that Automated Speed Enforcement cameras (ASE) have shown net decreases of speed in the Morning Star Valley and Sawmill Valley areas. This is in addition to plans to roll out ten additional cameras in key neighbourhoods throughout the city.
In the first month alone, 495 tickets were issued. On average, speeds were reduced by 11 km/h for the Morning Star Drive area and 9 km/h for the Sawmill Valley Drive.
The stats are online and show that 55 of the ticketed vehicles were repeat offenders. Drivers in both areas were also caught driving at twice the speed limit of 30 km/h.
In August, the ASE cameras were installed in both neighbourhoods. Officials from the city say that 22 cameras will be available by December.
Geoff Wright, the city’s transportation commissioner, said that the ASE cameras will rotate regularly through areas where speeding is a problem.
Wright stated that “these cameras are making an impact – they are helping to make our roads safer, and raising awareness about how important it is to follow posted speed limits.”
The program’s data will be used to inform future initiatives, such as installing cameras on additional locations and different types of roads. In a statement, Mayor Bonnie Crombie stated that “we must continue to utilize every tool we can to make our roads safer.”
We asked Ajinder Singh, a Mississauga driver, his opinion on speed cameras and whether they were really helpful in road safety. He replied, “Not in my opinion.” You don’t even know you are being photographed because they’re often hidden.
They are often not placed where it is dangerous but where they can make the most money. They believe safety is about adhering to speed limits and not adapting to road conditions. He said they are making people pay more attention to their speedometers than what’s happening outside of the car. This is why there are so many road accidents today.
He also said that speeding is a bad habit, but not the worst. You should not change lanes without signalling, tailgating or weaving within your lane. Legal or not, traffic moves at a certain speed on any road, and you want to blend in with this speed, regardless of whether it is slightly over or under the posted speed limit.
Alex Gregory said that speed cameras can encourage people to slow down, but they are more often used to issue tickets, and people pay them. Speed cameras are a popular tool for towns and cities, as they provide a steady stream of revenue to the local government. In some cases, it can even generate millions of dollars. Speed cameras are calibrated and designed to accurately document every offence. It’s difficult to argue with a speed camera ticket. If a road has 50 km and everyone is driving safely but not doing 60, that’s no problem. If everyone is driving 50 mph and someone decides to go 60 km and weaves across the road, changes lanes frequently and attempts to pass others, that’s a problem. It’s okay for someone to drive safely at 60 and follow the person in front. This could be problematic if one person chooses to do only 50 and the rest of the group has to follow them.
