Lights and cameras should keep this city safe from speeding drivers.
Barrie is asking the province if it can use both flashing lights and automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras in community safety zones.
In a letter to Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, Mayor Alex Nuttall says Barrie residents are concerned that the flashing lights have been removed from school zones where the ASE cameras are operating.
“To ensure both pedestrian and vehicular safety, is there a way that both the flashing lights and the ASE cameras could operate and be enforced, in our community safety zones?” wrote Nuttall.
The Highway Traffic Act prohibits the city from operating ASE cameras and flashing 40 kilometres per hour speed limit lights in school zones at the same time.
But it’s a problem Barrie drivers have identified since the ASE cameras were operational in early December.
“I agree that the flashing yellow lights should not be deactivated,” said Russell Strathdee. “It makes no sense to have to focus and digest speed limit times as you pass by a sign, when yellow flashing lights can more effectively convey the warning instantly and from a distance.
"I don't understand why anyone would think deactivation is better," Strathdee added.
Peter Heal, of Barrie, got an $80 ticket Jan. 4 when an ASE camera caught him travelling 52 km/h in a reduced 40-km/h zone on Anne Street North, one of the first two ASE locations.
Heal says he was back on Anne Street North earlier this week and the speed cameras had been moved to another location.
“What struck me was the flashing light was operational once again, providing ample warning to slow down for the school zone. Easy to see, lots of time to slow down,” he said. “As you recall, the day of the ticket, the flashing lights were covered and a small sign was added onto the same pole as the warning lights.
“The lights were covered with black bags to tell drivers when to slow down, replacing the easy to see flashing light with a hard-to-read sign,” Heal added.
Nuttall has asked that Ontario’s Transportation Ministry review the requirement to remove the flashing lights in school zones where ASE cameras are operating.
The city has not heard back from the MTO as of Wednesday.
ASE cameras nailed 9,240 vehicles for speeding at two Barrie locations, with an average ticket fine of $90, from Dec. 1, 2023 until Feb. 18, 2024. A city memo says 4,563 speeding tickets were issued on Big Bay Point Road and 4,677 on Anne Street North. Speeding fines totalling $463,065 have been paid to date.
The same city memo also says cameras in both locations have been successful in significantly reduced speeding there when compared to the use of flashing 40-km/h lights.
During peak school hours speeds were reduced by 12 km/h at the Big Bay Point Road location and 13 km/h at the Anne Street location, the city says. This reduction is compared to speeds during peak school hours when the flashing 40 km/h lights were in use.
ASE is a system that uses a camera and a speed-measuring device to detect and capture images of the licence plates of vehicles travelling faster than the posted speed limit in school or community safety zones.
Barrie’s ASE cameras were located eastbound on Big Bay Point Road, near Willow Landing and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic elementary schools, and southbound on Anne Street North, near Portage View and Nouvelle-Alliance schools.
The ASE cameras were moved to northbound Essa Road near Timothy Christian School, and westbound Ardagh Road in the vicinity of Heritage Baptist Church, near the end of February.
There is a significant difference between the tickets issued and the number of violations recorded at Barrie’s first two ASE cameras locations. Tickets for violations have only been issued if they occurred between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, the prime period when vulnerable members of the community may be impacted by speeding, and due to limited available resources to process violations.
The number of tickets actually issued relates to whether the image captured is of adequate quality to issue a ticket, such as licence plates obscured by weather and/or just illegible.
On Big Bay Point Road, for example, 58,258 speed violations were recorded, along with 35,674 on Anne Street North, from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Barrie’s ASE cameras are being rotated through different community safety zones every few months, and the city has 27 community safety zones. They are established by municipal councils through a bylaw, and cover road areas where there is a higher risk to, or concern for, drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and/or others who share the space.
Barrie has 81 sections of road designated as community safety zones in accordance with the community safety zones bylaw.
