Many community members are raising concerns about school-zone safety after automated speed cameras shut down across the city.
Some 60 cameras were decommissioned Nov. 14 following the passage of provincial legislation banning them. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has denounced the cameras as “cash grabs.”
Shayan Siddiqui, a Barrhaven resident, told Capital Current he is concerned about his 12 year old sister, who, he said, has been protected until now by a speed camera in front of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School on her daily walk to school.
“My biggest fear is that some reckless kid will speed up in a school zone … and my sister will get hurt,” he said.
Barrhaven, for example, had eight speed cameras, all now dark.
[Source: Open Ottawa. Graphic: Gabriella Rodrigues]
Without the revenue from speed cameras being reinvested in road safety measures, the city says its ability to implement other measures will be limited. In 2024, Ottawa received $29 million in revenue from the cameras.
The province says it will invest $210 million in a Road Safety Initiatives fund to support municipalities implementing other measures, such as flashing signs and speed bumps. But Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas said this investment cannot replace speed cameras. She said the initial $42 million that will be spread out across the province will not be enough to put effective measures in place.
The city has already tried alternatives to stop speeding, she said. Before speed cameras were implemented in her ward, the city installed a flashing sign to warn drivers they were entering a school zone but Dudas said this measure had little success.
Across Ottawa, speed limit compliance increased from 16 to 81 per cent within three years of installing automated speed cameras in 2020, the city says.
The new legislation is taking away the city’s best tool to protect at-risk road users, including children around school-zones, Dudas said.
“I don’t think that the second that those cameras shut off, that everything is going to go into absolute chaos, but what I do think is that it leaves a significant gap in terms of how we as a municipality can ensure that school zones are kept safe,” she said.
Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower is also concerned.
“I’m hearing from principals and from some parents who are very skeptical that putting up some signs is going to work, because they see the reality today,” Gower said. “Folks don’t stop at stop signs or even for crossing guards.”
Strong Towns Ottawa is a community organization advocating for better city planning, including safer streets. Marko Miljusevic, a board member of the organization, said speeding and street safety are top priorities.
The organization wrote to Doug Ford on Oct. 22, urging him to keep speed cameras in Ottawa. It is also preparing a report it says will show the benefits of speed camera revenues in investing in future road safety measures.
“There is no reason why someone who is an MPP from a riding in Toronto should be saying whether we are allowed to have safe streets in Ottawa,” Miljusevic said.
Dudas agreed speed cameras should remain a local issue.
“We’ve got different needs for different areas of our community, and really only myself as a municipal councillor and my community members, the schools, the people who use these roads every day, really know the nuance of these streets,” she said.
“With the provincial government speaking for all municipalities, for all communities across the province and painting it with one brushstroke,” she said, “it’s unfortunately doing us a disservice and removing our ability to make our own decisions.”
Even if some do consider speed cameras a “cash grab,” Siddiqui said he thinks the provincial government should reconsider its decision.
“It’s about respecting citizens, but also keeping them safe and doing the right thing that benefits us the most,” he said.
While speed cameras are shut down, he says he will tell his sister to be extra vigilant when walking to school.
