‘Follow the damn rules of the road and you won’t get a ticket!’ London, Ont. to add more radar and red light cameras

More drivers are about to pay the price for behaviours that put others at risk.

A new report to the Civic Works Committee discusses expanding London, Ont.’s network of traffic enforcing photo radar and red light cameras.

The number of intersections with red light cameras would rise from 10 up to 20.

The number of photo radar systems that are rotated between school zones will rise from two to seven.

“Follow the damn rules of the road and you won’t get a ticket!” a clearly frustrated Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis told CTV News.

“Every single day of the work-week I hear a concern about traffic,” Lewis added.

He pointed to the benefits already being experienced at locations where automated traffic enforcement is in place.

In London, the average speed of vehicles drops by 7 km/h when one of the mobile photo radar systems is installed, and remain 5 km/h below average after it moves to a new location.

At intersections with red light cameras, dangerous ‘angle collisions’ have been reduced by 8 to 11 per cent, and collisions involving injuries have dropped by 40 per cent.

There has been a 15 per cent rise in less severe rear-end collisions at those intersections, but the staff report concluded, “overall, there is a net safety improvement and a positive overall safety cost-benefit.”

Lewis said automated enforcement allows the London Police Service to focus on traffic rules that can’t be enforced by cameras.

“Illegal muffler modifications and the stunt racing on our streets, that’s the traffic enforcement I want them to be focussed on, and we can let the cameras do the work at the intersections in the school zones,” he explained.

The city predicts that red light cameras will generate approximately $1.3 million in fine revenue each year.

Revenue collected by the city is earmarked for other road safety initiatives and to offset any future costs incurred by the system.

Fines from automated enforcement are issued against the vehicle plate, not the driver.

The deputy mayor rejected claims that the systems are a money grab by city hall.

“Obey the speed limit and don’t run red lights and then it’s not a cash grab from you. It’s a cash grab from the people who are behaving badly behind the wheel,” he said.

The report will be considered by the Civic Works Committee on May 24.