Three months after the city first installed a series of automated cameras at intersections, more than 880 tickets have been mailed out for running red lights.
“As for impact, it’s too early to tell,” Steve Anderson, the city’s manager of transportation engineering, said in an email.
The goal, he previously said, is to encourage safer driving habits. “It takes a long time for driver behaviour to adjust.”
More than half of the tickets issued were for infractions at the Wyndham Street South and Wellington Street East crossing in the downtown area.
The city launched automated cameras at four intersections on Nov. 5 – Stone Road at Scottsdale Drive, Eramosa Road at Stevenson Street, Imperial Road at Willow Road and Wellington Street East at Wyndham Street South.
Another, Speedvale Avenue at Dawson Road, became operational on Dec. 24, with a sixth, Gordon Street at Clair Road, on Jan. 20.
“The last two required custom equipment to establish clearance from overhead hydro lines, so that is why they were delayed as compared to the first four locations,” explained Anderson.
The intersection that’s seen the most tickets issued is Wellington at Wyndham, with 183 issued in November, 152 in December and another 110 in January, which accounts for more than half of the tickets issued.
The second-most ticketed intersection is Eramosa at Stevenson, which saw 51 fines mailed out for November, 54 for December and 45 for January, for a total of 150 during that time frame.
Next was Stone at Scottsdale, with a three-month total of 143 tickets issued. There were 46 in November, 55 in December and 42 in January.
At Imperial and Willow, November saw 27 red light violations, with 16 a more in both December and January.
Launched on Christmas Eve day, cameras at Speedvale and Dawson saw six tickets during what remained of December, with 59 more in January.
Red light cameras at Gordon and Clair were up and running for only 11 days during those first three months of the program, resulting in 20 tickets.
Camera locations were chosen based on previous collisions and conditions near the road such as sight lines blocked by trees or utility poles, driveway placement, hills and overhead power cables.
Studies show red light violation rates can be cut in half within a few months of cameras being installed, and that right-angle collisions can be reduced by more than a quarter, noted a city news release issued around the time the first cameras became operational.
The cameras are live 24/7, taking photos of vehicles that enter the intersection after the traffic signal turns red. When violating vehicles are identified, the registered licence plate holder will receive a $325 ticket in the mail within 30 days.
Vehicles entering the intersection on a green or amber light will not be photographed and tickets will not be issued for those making legal turns.
As there is no definitive proof of who is driving, as there would be during a police-initiated traffic stop, violations do not come with demerit points.
