Hamilton parents gather to boost calls for Ontario to reverse ban on speed cameras

Hamilton parents at a recent demonstration hope adding their voices to a chorus of opposition can help push the Ontario government to reverse its ban on speed cameras.

Parents Against Speeding Hamilton gathered at the park by Highview Public School on Friday, meeting with other caregivers during morning drop-off and asking them to sign a petition against the ban Doug Ford’s government formalized Thursday. 

“We're against the ban because it does make the streets less safe for our children,” organizer Henio Doessing told CBC Hamilton following the demonstration, adding he was inspired by similar efforts in Toronto. “We've seen in the past that with the right amount of pushback, policy can be changed.”

The premier has said speed camera programs — which automatically issue tickets to drivers going above set limits — are a “cash grab” that don’t actually slow drivers down. Per new legislation, the cameras will be removed across Ontario in two weeks.

Doessing disagrees, pointing to a study by the Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Metropolitan University that found in Toronto, cameras reduced the proportion of speeding vehicles in urban school zones by 45 per cent.

“It's too sweeping to ban speed safety cameras across the board. There are many situations where they are the best tool to reduce speed and enforce the traffic laws,” he said.

Generally, Doessing said, he thinks of law, order and safety as core Conservative values.

“It boggles my mind that the Progressive Conservatives are more loyal to those speeding through our neighbourhoods than to parents and families wanting safe communities for their kids.”

Doessing ran with the Ontario Liberals to represent Hamilton East-Stoney Creek in February’s provincial election, finishing second to Neil Lumsden with the PC Party of Ontario.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath previously told CBC Hamilton a ban would take away a tool the city has found effective to slow drivers down. She said the city's speed camera program was so effective at changing habits that between January and August, revenue from tickets fell by about half compared to the same time last year, going from $1.3 million to $559,000.

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward is one of more than 20 mayors who have called on the province to adjust rather than scrap the speed camera program. The province has promised speed bumps, raised crosswalks and roundabouts to slow traffic instead of cameras, but Meed Ward has said cities haven’t heard anything more about that.

On Thursday, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria did not say when those measures would replace speed cameras.

Hamilton had been working to double its speed camera inventory from the current four, acting transportation director Mike Field told CBC Hamilton in an email Friday.

“The four additional automated speed enforcement cameras have not yet been deployed, and once we receive direction from the province, we will proceed accordingly.”