What started with good intentions has quickly turned into an expensive ‘fiasco’ for many Guelph drivers.
Heather Thompson, who frequents the Old University Neighbourhood to drive her grandson to hockey practice, was shocked to find out recently via the mail she owed hundreds of dollars from driving on her usual route down Forest Street, where one of Guelph's four automated speed cameras is currently located.
The cameras were installed over the summer as part of the city’s Vision Zero program, aimed at making the community safer, and are rotated to new locations – all in 30 km/h school zones – every three months.
In the first three months of the cameras being installed, there were a total of 2,275 speed infractions, with the city receiving around $30,000 in revenue through the private company that manages them.
The average speed across these infractions was 46 km/h, according to Steven Anderson, engineering and transportation services manager for the City of Guelph.
They were installed at their current locations in November, but drivers didn’t start receiving infraction notices until three or four weeks later, leaving many surprised to find they had been issued several speeding tickets before being made aware of the first one.
Thompson's first tickets were issued on Nov. 29 and 30, but she didn’t receive them in the mail until Dec. 29. Unaware of her infraction, she made several more during that time, and has accrued $740 worth of tickets for driving an average of 46 km/h.
Several of her tickets were issued on the same day.
"That would never happen in the real world with the police stopping you for a traffic violation,” since you would be made aware of it right away, she said.
“It’s certainly hurting me (financially), but it’s going to be hurting a whole lot of other people who are perhaps in a much more vulnerable place,” she said. “This is harmful to people. It is vastly unfair.”
Her daughter, too, has received a total of seven tickets amounting to $1,100 since the cameras were installed.
Thompson is worried the fines will end up costing them thousands of dollars before they’re moved to their next locations at the end of the month, and she’s not alone.
Countless residents have reached out to Ward 5 councillors Leanne Caron and Cathy Downer, concerned about the number of infractions because of the delay. In fact, Caron said she’s received more emails about this issue than any other this year – including the city’s budget.
Speed cameras in Ward 5 can be found on Water Street and Forest Street.
“I myself have received (two tickets), so I understand some of the frustration that neighbours are feeling who live near the enforcement cameras, because they’re getting six, seven, eight tickets in the mail, all delayed by almost a month between time of infraction and time of notification,” she said.
“People understand the first infraction. The residents know that slowing at a school zone is the right thing to do," she said.
But the concern is a sense of injustice, she said, since the delay doesn’t allow for a change in driving behaviour.
“By the time you get your first ticket, you’ve already got eight tickets coming," she said.
Caron said councillors weren't aware there would be a delay, and said she expected the tickets to be issued immediately.
Her first infraction was dated Dec. 7, but it wasn’t sent out until Dec. 28, and didn’t arrive until the 30th.
“To me, that's unacceptable. You should know right away that you were charged with an offence so that you can respond accordingly,” she said.
Matt, another Ward 5 resident, (who requested only his first name be used) said his kids go to John McCrae Public School on Water Street, where one of the cameras is currently located.
“It’s a perfectly reasonable idea,” he said, noting that he wants the area to be safe for his kids. “But I think the roll-out hasn’t really had the intended consequences.
“We obviously want our kids to be as safe as possible, but instead of harshly penalizing people for driving 42 km/h instead of 39 km/h, the intention should be to curb actually dangerous driving during school hours.”
Like Thompson and many others, Matt said he and his wife have received several tickets since the cameras were installed, but the tickets were all issued before they received their first notice.
“So we had no chance to change our behaviour,” he said.
Another concern is that some residents were unaware of the speed cameras – and the 30 km/h speed – until their infractions came in.
Caron said while she thinks the city did a “pretty good job” at informing residents, there were some areas that could have improved – like giving door-to-door notices that the changes were coming.
The signs for the speed change and the automated camera are not always obvious, though. Thompson said she hadn’t seen them, and even Caron said when she received her first notice, she didn’t remember seeing any signs, and had to go back to look for them.
There is also the question of whether the 30 km/h speed limit makes sense. It's aimed at keeping children safe going to and from school, but it's still in effect after hours, on weekends and holidays.
For example, Matt said they’ve received tickets for going 41 km/h on a Saturday, when there aren’t many kids around.
“We’re not necessarily curbing dangerous driving, we are very harshly penalizing people who are going slightly over a speed limit,” he said.
Marilyn Sears and her husband Mark, who have lived in the Old University neighbourhood for nearly 49 years, have received three tickets since November.
“And we never speed,” she said. “It seems really unreasonable, 30 km/h just after you’ve turned off Edinburgh, and then the charge for the tickets.”
She agreed the delay “doesn’t give you much time to change your behaviour. It’s a real fiasco.”
“I don’t think it’ll change habits that much for normal people who just drive a reasonable speed,” she said. “This is a money grab. People have gotten like, seven tickets just going in the 40s.”
The city's Anderson said it takes about two months for the city to receive the information, so the data for November and December isn’t available just yet.
Caron said city councillors have passed along their “very strong concerns about the turnaround time on infraction” to city staff, and hopes they will return with improvements.
But if they aren’t able to, she thinks it would come back to council for further direction – for instance, adding more resources or adding to policy that the fines are waived for infractions not sent within five days.
However, Anderson said the delay is “totally out of our control.”
“That’s between the vendor and the processing centre. All we can do is advocate at our next opportunity to chat with them,” he said.
Regarding concerns around the speed limit being difficult to maintain, he said the speed limits are set by the City of Guelph and approved by council, and that changing the speed limit or giving more leeway with the speeds the camera is capturing “is not something that is currently on our work plan to review.”
“Outside of that, I would ask everyone to drive at the speed limit,” he said.
