Premier Doug Ford is suggesting he will hand cities cash to replace automated cameras with speed bumps and lights as he looks to remove the enforcement tools across the province.
On Monday morning, Ford said he would give provincial funding to municipalities to make major road design changes he believes are a more effective way to reduce speeding.
“We’re going to be giving municipalities across the province a lot of money to put in all sorts of street calming methods from turnabouts to speed bumps to flashing signs,” he said. “And that’s going to slow people down; these speed traps do not slow people down.”
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It’s not yet clear when Ford will make the announcement formally, which he said would be attended by as-yet unnamed mayors.
“There’s going to be a few mayors joining me,” Ford said.
“I’ve had many mayors tell me, ‘We know this is a tax grab, this is what they told me: ‘I need money for roads and so on and so forth.’ You can’t use people’s pocketbooks, we’re getting gouged with taxes all over the place, we’re facing tough times.”
Ford kicked off his battle with speed cameras earlier in the month after a spate of vandalism in Toronto, calling them a “tax grab” and saying he would force cities to remove them.
Since then, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario have both written to the government urging them to keep the cameras in place.
“These tools are especially deployed in school zones and community safety zones, where slowing down saves lives and prevents serious injuries,” the police chiefs wrote.
“Ontario’s police leaders view ASE not as a revenue tool, but as a traffic safety tool. Its purpose is deterrence and prevention — helping to change driver behaviour and reduce collisions.”
A July study from SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University found speed cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent in Toronto.
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