During their council meeting on Jan. 27, Collingwood councillors will receive a presentation from town staff on the possibility of bringing red-light cameras and automated speed enforcement to town.
Out of that presentation, they could direct staff to proceed with either option, both, or none.
A red-light camera detects and captures images of vehicles entering an intersection while the traffic signal is red. The program is focused on altering driver behaviour to decrease red-light running and increase safety.
Images are reviewed by Provincial Offences officers and tickets are issued to the owner of the vehicle, regardless of who was driving.
Upon conviction, the only penalty is a fine; no demerit points are issued nor will the registered owners’ driving record be impacted. The fine for running a red light in Ontario is $325.
There are currently 81 red-light cameras in the City of Ottawa and 358 in the Greater Toronto Area. Peel Region has 35 red-light cameras spread across Mississauga and Brampton.
In Simcoe County, Innisfil currently has red-light cameras at the intersection of King Street and Queen/Church Street (Highway 89 and 27) in Cookstown. More than 18,000 vehicles drive through the intersection each day.
Red-light cameras differ from automated speed enforcement, as they monitor for different offences: either drivers running red lights, or speeding.
Other municipalities in Simcoe County have jumped on the automated-speed-enforcement bandwagon, such as Essa Township and Bradford West Gwillimbury.
In Bradford, their one-year pilot project with Global Traffic Solutions started in May 2024 with four cameras placed in different locations operated remotely, to automatically detect and photograph vehicles exceeding the speed limit so tickets could be issued to the owners by mail.
The cameras are battery-operated and can be operated out of various roadside boxes or mounted to posts or poles.
From May to July, the program issued 16,126 tickets from its four cameras. This resulted in roughly $1.88 million worth of penalties, from which about $289,000 was paid to the province and almost $738,000 paid in other expenses (including but not limited to the confidential vendor charge), leaving the town with about $851,380 in estimated net profit in that three-month period alone.
Also included in the consent agenda for the same meeting Monday is a letter from Jody LaPlante, calling on councillors to bring red-light cameras to town, pleading with them to consider installing the first one at the intersection of Harbour Street with Balsam St. (Highway 26).
Council’s regular meeting will take place on Monday, Jan. 27 starting at 2 p.m. Any members of the public may attend in person in the council chambers at Collingwood town hall, or virtually by Zoom webinar. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the town’s YouTube channel here.