Speed cameras are still coming to Bradford, despite the process taking a slight detour.
Council voted to reconsider a contract with Toronto’s Joint Processing Centre (JPC) and Barrie courts, and asked staff to look at automated speed enforcement (ASE) options from Global Traffic Solutions, during the regular meeting of council earlier this week.
The decision came after Mayor James Leduc and Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine, who also chairs the Community and Traffic Safety Committee, discovered new options at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) in August.
Despite almost having contracts signed for speed cameras, Ferragine asked council to reconsider the motion from May 2.
“I wanted to open it up, because we have seen other options that I feel could potentially be better for our municipality as a whole. ... Prior to actually signing something and getting into these agreements, let’s make sure we’re getting the best bang for our buck and doing what’s best for the municipality,” he said.
Staff intend to prepare a report on the matter for the committee’s consideration before it comes back before council for final approval at a future date.
Ferragine explained the new option could also be expanded beyond speed enforcement to include red-light cameras and is expected to come with no up-front capital cost to the town.
“I just want to make sure we have all the info before we sign any of these agreements,” he said.
Under the program being reconsidered, the town’s capital costs were estimated to be about $60,000 for the initial buy-in and between $4,000 and $8,000 per month for each speed camera.
Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper praised the efforts of Leduc and Ferragine to find new options and bring them back to the town.
Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie echoed those sentiments, thanked the committee for their patience implementing speed cameras and noted the situation is "a perfect example" of the benefits of having members of council attend conferences and trade shows.
“I know everybody is very passionate about traffic. ... Everyday I see people going through red lights, and now, by having more options we’re going to further improve our community for safety, so it’s a win-win, especially for the finances — it’s a big one,” he said.
The reconsideration came just in time, as the town was in the process of finalizing agreements for ASE with Toronto JPC and Barrie courts — a process that had been ongoing, with recent developments including:
- On April 19, the Community and Traffic Safety Committee decided to proceed with the Toronto JPC, and recommended council authorize staff to execute all the necessary agreements to move forward with the Toronto JPC and Barrie courts;
- On May 2, during its regular meeting, council endorsed that recommendation and added that the matter be returned to the committee for approval;
- On May 17, the committee discussed the contract and policies and supported moving forward with a two-camera agreement, for which council gave advanced approval on May 2;
- On June 6, during its regular meeting, council further endorsed the committee’s decision when approving the meeting minutes.
Since then, contract negotiations had been ongoing.
The speed cameras are just one component in the town’s ongoing efforts to create a traffic mitigation strategy.
