WELLINGTON COUNTY — Speeding residents might want to think again.
According to a new report from county engineer Don Kudo, automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras issued 9,194 tickets between Jan. 15, the day they went live, and Jan. 19.
When asked why these numbers differ from the 7,194 reported at county council in January, county roads manager Joe de Koning said this report has more current information than was initially presented.
ASE cameras automatically give tickets to the owners of vehicles caught speeding beyond a particular threshold, which hasn't been disclosed.
Five ASE cameras are now live at these locations:
- Fergus on Belsyde Avenue East between Tower Street South and McTavish Street
- Aberfoyle on Brock Road South between a point 225 metres north of Old Brock Road and a point 300 metres south of Old Brock Road
- Palmerston on Main Street between Henry Street and York Street
- Mount Forest on Sligo Road East between a point 50 metres west of Church Street North and a point 125 metres west of London Road North
- Drayton on Wellington Road 11 from Andrews Drive to Spring Street
The two remaining locations on Wellington Road 24 in Hillsburgh and Wellington Road 27 in Rockwood were still waiting for permission from Hydro One to go live when the report was written.
The report estimates approximately 125,572 vehicles travelled at the five locations across the initial five-day period; approximately seven per cent of the total vehicles received tickets.
During this time, staff said a minor adjustment to the limit of the Community Safety Zone on Highway 6 in Mount Forest was made and one camera was active. The second camera was activated on Jan. 31.
Cameras in Palmerston were also impacted for a short duration during a hydro disruption.
Revenue generated from the tickets is split between the ASE vendor Global Traffic Group and the fine amount is similar to what would be issued by a police officer, although the exact split is confidential.
A breakdown of how many tickets were issued at each location isn't available yet.
The ASE program is considered a pilot for the year and only involves the county and its roads. In the future, it could be rolled out to include lower-tier municipalities and roads.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
