Speed cameras are being recommended for the streets of Windsor.
An administration report going before Wednesday's meeting of the city's Environment, Transportation, and Public Safety Standing Committee recommends the implementation of an Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) program.
ASE is a system that uses a camera and speed management device to enforce speed limits, allowing the devices to capture an image of speeding vehicles for review by municipal joint processing centres, and if the violation is confirmed upon a review, a violation can be issued to the vehicle owner.
Ward 4 Councillor Mark McKenzie says if you're speeding in a zone where there is a camera, you'll get a ticket.
"We realize you can't have police at every corner, sitting there for hours a day trying to catch those speeders," he says. "This is a way; it's another traffic calming measure we're trying to implement to address issues of speeding in our neighbourhood."
It's estimated the program will cost $1.27 million a year due to the equipment required, along with warning signs and expenses associated with the processing and administration of the tickets and fines issued.
It's estimated the five mobile cameras could result in approximately 23,000 penalty orders per year based on data collected by the city.
If approved, the aim is to set the cameras up in community safety zones, school zones, and around parks and community centres.
McKenzie says he thinks Ypres Avenue would be an ideal spot for the cameras as the speed limit is 40 km/h, and you also have Chisholm Library and Optimist Memorial Park.
"We know speeding is a problem; it's been a problem there for 30, 40 years. In that 40 km/h zone, the average speed is actually 62 km/h. We know that because we have the speed radar feedback signs there, and some of the higher speeds, we've had speeds up in the 90s. So there's a perfect candidate for where we put one of these cameras," he says.
McKenzie says a lot of residents say they don't want speed humps.
"Now if you're speeding, you're going to get a ticket, and it doesn't penalize those people who are actually going the speed limit. Speed bumps penalize everybody; ASE, the automated speed enforcement, is only going to penalize those people who are actually speeding on those streets, especially around schools, parks, and community centers," he says.
The province enacted Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) under the Highway Traffic Act in 2019.
The city's Environment, Transportation, and Public Safety Standing Committee meets in council chambers at city hall at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29.