WELLINGTON COUNTY — Drivers have already racked up thousands of tickets in two weeks thanks to the county's newly installed automated speed enforcement cameras.
Presenting to county council Thursday morning, roads committee chair county Coun. Gregg Davidson said they've handed out 7194 tickets since automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras went live on Jan. 15.
ASE cameras automatically give tickets to the owners of vehicles caught speeding beyond a particular threshold, which hasn't been disclosed.
The locations of the four cameras that could now be live are:
- 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
The remaining three locations on Wellington Street South in Drayton, Main Street North in Rockwood and Trafalgar Road in Hillsburgh will go live once permissions are received from Hydro One since the cameras are mounted onto hydro poles.
According to Davidson, tickets were issued within a week and sent out starting last Tuesday.
A breakdown of how many tickets were issued at each location isn't available yet, although Davidson said the camera in Palmerston was down due to a power outage.
Davidson previously confirmed 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.
Calling the number "astonishing," Coun. James Seeley, the mayor of Puslinch, said he's already noticed folks slowing down in Aberfoyle.
He went on to suggest the county look into installing larger or brighter signs to let people know the cameras are there and allow them to correct their behaviour.
"We don't want to give tickets, we just want people to slow down," said Seeley.
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.
