Innisfil council made three moves at its April 12 meeting to move its traffic safety plans into the fast lane.
The town’s traffic calming strategy was approved, while agreements were entered into with the Barrie Joint Processing Centre (JPC) and Toronto JPC for the town’s automated speed enforcement (ASE), and red light camera programs, respectively.
That the traffic calming strategy was passed by council without any further discussion seemed to surprise Mayor Lynn Dollin, but she wasn’t about to let the moment go by unnoticed.
“It’s finally all coming together,” she said in summary, during the brief discussion on the ASE approval. “All the tools are going to be in the toolbox and we can get a handle on what is becoming an increasing problem, not only in our municipality, but I can tell you in every municipality in Ontario.”
“Those who break the law are making it safer for everyone else around town,” added Deputy Mayor Kenneth Fowler. “Their action – or lack of care – is, in essence, being turned into the protection of others.”
The traffic calming strategy and ASE proposal had recently been discussed at council.
With traffic calming, the gap between the March 22 meeting and the April 12 meeting was designed to provide both councillors and Innisfil residents with additional time to comment on the proposed strategy and policy. With none outlined, the strategy is being implemented as designed, combining proactive and reactive strategies and clearly defined criteria for when traffic calming measures can be utilized.
New measures residents can expect to see in the municipality can include on-road painted speed warnings, speed humps and narrowed lanes.
The second report on ASE provided councillors with a more fulsome financial picture, as Fowler in particular was eager to receive, and some of the risks involved with Innisfil being the first municipality of its size to develop such a program.
The motion passed by council officially puts the town into an agreement with Local Authority Services (LAS) to create an ASE program. The ASE program will be in partnership with the Barrie court, with all tickets being written at launch considered as provincial offences. The goal of staff will be to develop an administrative penalties (AP) system in time for March 1, 2024.
The town hopes the ASE cameras will be operational and issuing tickets by the end of October 2023.
“LAS and Innisfil Staff agree that the long-term and superior solution is to use the AP model,” the staff report stated. “This model is more cost-effective (keeping more ticket revenues in the municipality) and creates an environment that is less intimidating for the public to navigate therefore speeding up the process of disputing a ticket and keeping our (provincial) courts focused on other matters.”
Not that creating an AP model won’t be risky, or simple, as “there is no precedent for this and the requirements are complex and defined across multiple provincial ministries so this is not an easy task,” staff indicated.
But there a potentially a million reasons why it’s a risk worth taking. Staff completed a three-week study of a 40km/h school zone. During that time, more than 7,000 speeding infractions were observed. Using those figures – and assuming that everyone paid their fines on time, if not at all – the one camera could bring in $1 million.
Conservatively, staff estimate 70 per cent of speeders and red light runners will pay their tickets without a fight. In the ASE case, that turns into $691,6000 that should flow into the town coffers, with the potential for another approximately $120,000 returned over a longer period of time.
There’s nearly $500,000 in potential savings in developing an AP model, the report indicated. Total annual costs of going through the courts are just shy of $800,000, creating an estimated deficit of $107,167. That turns into an estimated surplus of $378,283 annually through an AP model.
Dollin stressed that neither the ASE or red light camera programs should be viewed as cash grabs for the municipality.
“You hear about that all the time; that’s not what it’s about,” she said. “It’s about safety and I don’t think there’s a single person on this council who wouldn’t tell you that’s the single biggest issue you deal with in your ward.”
That includes the ward Dollin represented as a councillor and still resides while serving as mayor, as the first red light camera in the municipality is proposed for the intersection of County Road 27 and Highway 89 in Cookstown.
The intersection is the busiest municipally controlled road in Innisfil, with more than 18,000 vehicles passing through it every day, thanks in large part to its central proximity between Highway 400 and the Honda plant in Alliston.
During a week-long study in February, 650 vehicles were observed running the red lights at the intersection, with 72 per cent of those travelling east-west along Highway 89. As high as that number is, it only captured daytime hours, Dollin said. She feels the real number could be higher.
“Because I live near, I would say that would be more than doubled if that was going around the clock,” she said. “Because the real time when the Honda trucks and the Honda traffic feel it’s safe to cross the red light is at two or two in the morning, not three in the afternoon when there’s people on the street.”
The red light program will too begin in partnership with the Barrie court before switching to an AP model, with the same March 1, 2024 target date. With the tickets from the red light camera, however, both models are planned to provide surpluses to the municipality.
Any surpluses, staff said, will go back into the traffic safety program, as outlined in the new strategy and policy. Under an AP model, the surplus for the red light program could reach almost $400,000.
However, if revenues end up going down, that won’t be a bad thing either.
“I would love to be able to see a 90 per cent drop in revenues which would show they’re doing what they’re supposed to,” said Coun. Alex Waters. “It’s not about the revenue; it’s about the safety.”
Before red light cameras can be installed at the intersection, the project must be approved by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. That process could take up to six months to complete.
