It’s hardly twice the fun.
Council approved a motion Tuesday night that the city lease two more automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras, which will give Barrie four instead of two speed-camera zones for ticketing, as each location requires one camera.
The cost of leasing two more cameras will be funded through city revenue from the ASE program.
Peter Heal said he has no problem with more speed cameras, even after getting an $80 ticket for travelling 52 kilometres an hour in a reduced 40-km/h zone on Anne Street North, on Jan. 4.
“I have to admit, from my experience, I am seeing the excessive speeding return to the spot where I got my ticket," said the Barrie man. "It’s a bit of a disappointment, frankly. The intent was likely to make people aware of the potential danger, in this case to school children, so they would get in the habit of slowing down during times when kids would be out and about and crossing the street.
“It’s too bad that people can’t just slow down just because it is the right thing to do, particularly in school zones,” he added.
Gordon MacBain, also of Barrie, supports more ASE cameras in the city.
“I am 110 per cent behind the acquisition of the additional cameras — the more, the better,” he said.
Council also approved Tuesday the installation of two 'Speed Camera In Use' signs in each direction of an automated speed camera, taking into consideration locating the signs at roadways or near the camera locations, so that drivers will be better warned when entering the areas of speed-camera locations.
“It’s to give people a fair, frank warning you are entering a speed camera zone,” said Coun. Gary Harvey. “This is just to sign it a little bit better.”
“The whole intent is to slow people down,” said Coun. Bryn Hamilton. “More signs are going to help.”
“Marketing matters,” said Mayor Alex Nuttall, “and the more times you tell someone, their retention rate goes up.”
And as part of the 2025 budget, councillors will consider the installation of a second set of school zone signs and the school time speed limit signs for each of Barrie’s community safety zones, where the automated speed cameras will be operated on main arterial roads that are two lanes in width, with characteristics similar to the south end of Essa Road and other roadways that are four lanes wide.
Staff are also preparing an intake form requesting in-road flexible speed signs and any additional poly bollards required for school zones throughout the city, again for the next city budget.
Nuttall helped justify two more ASE cameras, and zones, by noting there’s been a major speed reduction in the areas where the city put ASE cameras. Revenues from the program can be used for things like raised intersections or intersection pedestrian signals or other safety features to improve safety around schools, including perhaps a crossing guard program inside of school zones.
Nuttall has said the cameras have proven to be effective in reducing speeds in Barrie’s community safety zones, and additional cameras would mitigate speeding in additional areas of the city.
ASE cameras in Barrie’s first two locations were 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. This reduction is compared to speeds during peak school hours when the flashing 40 km/h lights were in use.
It's in the mail
Council also passed a motion Tuesday that staff prepare a city wide mail-out concerning its traffic safety and ASE program, at a cost of $10,000, again to be funded from ASE revenues.
Barrie’s ASE cameras were first 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, from last Dec. 1 until Feb. 18.
The cameras nailed 9,240 vehicles for speeding at these locations, with an average ticket fine of $90. A city memo says 4,563 speeding tickets were issued on Big Bay Point Road and 4,677 on Anne Street North.
ASE cameras were then catching speeders northbound Essa Road near Timothy Christian School, and westbound on Ardagh Road in the vicinity of Heritage Baptist Church, beginning at the end of February.
They are now eastbound Cundles Road East, at Livingstone Street near St. Joseph’s Catholic High School and Frere-Andre Catholic Elementary School, and southbound on Leacock Drive, at Gibbon Drive near St. Mary’s Catholic School.
There’s also a new 'Municipal Speed Cameras Coming Soon' sign on Little Avenue, near Assikinack Public School.
Little Avenue is next on the list for ASE and the city’s rotation has been for two months, said Michelle Banfield, the city’s executive director of development services.
The Coming Soon signs are three months in advance, she said.
Barrie has also asked the province if it can use both flashing lights and ASE cameras in community safety zones.
In a letter to Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria earlier this year, Nuttall said Barrie residents are concerned that the flashing lights have been removed from school zones where the ASE cameras are operating.
Ontario’s 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.
The city wants to be exempt from that regulation, but as of Tuesday had not heard back from the MTO.
Heal, 61, agrees with the proposed exemption.
“My issue with the cameras in the school zone was more to do with the removal of the flashing lights at the same time than it was the camera itself,” he said. “That seemed to be nothing more than a trap and cash grab rather than addressing a safety concern.
“If it takes the cameras to slow people down in school zones, then let’s put them near all schools in Barrie along with the existing flashing lights,” Heal added. “The difference between the time it takes to go 250 metres at 40 km/h versus 60 km/h is 7.5 seconds.
“If someone can’t give up 7.5 seconds to slow down for the safety of Barrie’s school kids, then they deserve a ticket,” he said.
MacBain has a similar opinion.
“I do hope that they will reconsider the use of the yellow lights. I feel that not doing so is unfair and, frankly, dangerous,” he said. “It’s nearly impossible to read and react to the very wordy signs.
“I have seen a very noticeable difference in the number of drivers who are now slowing down in the school zones, with flashing lights, and it’s extremely encouraging.”
“We lost a pretty clear and distinct warning,” Coun. Jim Harris said of the flashing lights in school zones. “That was a step backwards.”
MacBain said he’s still hopeful city council will find a way to use red-light cameras.
“If it had the same effect (as ASE cameras) it would make our streets so much safer,” he said.
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.
Fines go into Provincial Offences Court revenues for the municipality where the charges are laid, in this case Barrie, and are treated no differently than the charges that would be laid by a police service.
The speeding penalty is a fine, but tickets issued through ASE don’t result in demerit points. The fine is based on by how much the driver is exceeding the speed limit. The city has said ASE speeding tickets will arrive within 30 days after the violation occurs to the vehicle’s owner.
Barrie’s cameras are to be rotated through different community safety zones every few months, and there are plenty of choices.
The city has 27 community safety zones. They are established by 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 use these spaces.
Highway Traffic Act fines, including speeding, are doubled in community safety zones and many community safety zones are located close to schools. Barrie has 81 sections of road designated as community safety zones in accordance with the community safety zones bylaw.
City staff have said the ASE cameras program required $300,000 of initial investment — in staff, security, computers, technology, software and the cameras themselves $100,000 of that total. Yearly operational costs are $370,000, staff have said.
Speeding fines cover a portion of the ASE program’s costs. Local Authority Services (LAS), the business services arm of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), and the city signed an agreement last summer that LAS will initially fund two provincial offences officers who will process speed-camera violations in Barrie.
