Barrie and Innisfil look to introduce speed cameras to curb aggressive driving

Driving too quickly through Barrie and Innisfil may soon become even riskier as both municipalities look to introduce automated speed cameras in school and community safety zones.

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While the primary goal is to encourage safe driving and reduce the number of speeding violations, the hope is the new technology will help communities avoid costly accidents and fatalities.

"Our goal is to have zero tickets and have everybody driving safely," said Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin.

Innisfil would become one of the first Ontario municipalities of its size to bring in the new technology because the program's price tag has been a significant deterrent.

"It's not only the expense of the equipment, but it's also the processing. The administration of the tickets and processing eats into a lot of that," said Dollin.

Local Authority Services, a branch of The Association of Municipalities of Ontario, can help communities afford the necessary equipment and support the processing of tickets.

"They're helping us to develop the first joint processing centre under their umbrella. Toronto already has a joint processing centre for all the bigger municipalities south of Barrie," said Barrie Court Services manager Rodger Bates.

Automated speed cameras have proven effective in other regions, such as Quebec, where they have decreased collisions and average speed.

"They've been doing this for a while, and in the camera areas, they've had between a 15 and 42 per cent decrease in collisions and over 13 kilometres per hour decrease in average speed," Dollin concluded.

There is no timeline for when the new speed cameras will be installed and active. Innisfil councillors hope those details will be more apparent at the next town meeting on April 12.