Barrie’s new automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras are now operational at two Barrie locations and have been flashing away capturing offenders for a couple of weeks.
“There’s a very simple way to avoid getting a ticket. Don’t speed,” Mayor Alex Nuttall said in an announcement on Nov 27. “Please slow down and help keep our communities a safe place to live for our children and for our families.”
The first two locations for ASE cameras are eastbound on Big Bay Point Road near Willow Landing and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic elementary school, and southbound on Anne Street North near Portage View and Nouvelle-Alliance schools.
ASE is a system that uses a camera and a speed-measuring device to detect and snap images of the licence plates of vehicles travelling faster than the posted speed limit in school or community safety zones. These types of charges are the responsibility of the vehicle owner and not the driver.
The city says the speeding tickets will arrive within 30 days after the violation occurs.
The ticket will include the image taken by the ASE camera and an enlargement of the plate portion. It is mailed to the registered plate holder at the address on file with the province as of the offence date.
The penalty is a fine and tickets issued through ASE don’t result in demerit points.
“The fine will be dependant on how fast the vehicle is travelling above the speed limit, but as all cameras are located in community safety zones, the standard fines set out in the Highway Traffic Act are doubled in these areas,” Michelle Banfield, the city's director of development services, told BarrieToday.
She said the camera is triggered by a threshold speed which will not be disclosed.
There are school zone speed reduction warning signs with flashing yellow lights covered over on Big Bay Point Road where one of the camera systems is installed.
“The flashing lights to warn of a 40-km/h zone have been replaced with proper legal signage depicting when the school zone speed (40 km/h) is in effect," Banfield explained. "The cameras are programmable and determine what speed zone is applicable at the correct time of the day.”
The city says it plans to have the cameras rotated to different community safety zones every few months.
Barrie has 27 community safety zones. They are established by city council 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.
Highway Traffic Act fines, including speeding, are doubled in community safety zones and many community safety zones are located close to schools.
