Dear Editor:
RE: Automated speed enforcement pilot coming to Wellington County, June 20.
In this article, roads committee chairman Gregg Davidson told the Advertiser the cameras and system are not a cash grab but a “tool to protect the public from speeding and from harm.”
However, examples from Mississauga, Brampton and Toronto suggest fine revenue between $1 million and $34 million. This is just another “big brother” move to generate revenue dollars for a cash-starved municipality.
In the last while anyone touring southern Ontario’s secondary roads has found speed limits hacked down from generally 80km/h to 70 or in most spots 60. In towns, limits are down from 50 to 40 and 30km/h. Changing those thousands of signs had a major cost for no practical reason.
Perhaps the cameras will reclaim those costs by capturing drivers doing a reasonable 80 in a 60 zone. Officials will argue that slower speeds and automatic fining will temper the frequency of horrific accidents chalked up to speed. I doubt it. Bad drivers will continue to speed while slower limits make your personal vehicle less efficient by time over distance.
What is the inflation factor when a commercial vehicle travels 20km less each hour? In three hours an entire hour is lost to a 60km limit in an old 80 zone.
There are too many control-minded people in government whose entire lives are dedicated to putting their thumbs down on the individual. These officials never seem to consider the consequences. A government should in my view make our networks of transportation more effective. Less time on the roads means less carbon emissions, less fuel and money burned by the individual, less cost to corporations and as a result lower prices to the consumer.
I know that so far the program is for school zones and dangerous intersections. Will this program ever get expanded past the test in school zones? Of course it will. It is also a program that will not identify drivers. It will just fine vehicles.
A cash grab? Yes.
Ted Flanagan,
Erin