Is Hamilton’s photo-radar experiment slowing down speeders?
Hamilton's photo-radar experiment has nabbed about 17,000 speeders and largely slowed traffic over the first four months of automated enforcement, the latest city statistics show.
More than three-quarters of those tickets - 12,888 - were mailed out to lead-footed motorists on a now-infamous stretch of Stone Church Road on the east Mountain at the start of the automated enforcement project last October.
That early flurry of tickets - including 17 to one driver - spurred some online skeptics to label the year-long project a cash grab. But the next three locations on the enforcement list - Glancaster Road, Bellagio Avenue and Lawrence Road - have together amassed only about 4,000 charges.
Regardless, photo-radar appears to be changing behaviours" of motorists, said project manager Mike Field. So far, what we've seen is that the cameras appear to be effective in reducing speeds," he said. We're also seeing evidence of that halo effect when the cameras are gone."
The city monitors traffic speeds before and after camera enforcement at each community safety zone" and in both directions.
Average speeds dropped at all four of the first camera locations in the month following enforcement - with the exception of eastbound traffic on Stone Church Road. An eastbound driver on that stretch was also caught doing 128 km/h in the 50 km/h zone - the highest speed recorded in the first four months of camera enforcement.
(FYI, drivers: default fines are doubled for speeding in a community safety zones and anyone caught doing more than 50 km/h over the limit faces a court hearing and even higher penalties.)
Field said the city has yet to take a deeper dive" into the numbers to try to figure out why that section of roadway seemingly invites more speeding. The only other unwelcome surprise" for the city so far is how often vandals managed to knock cameras out of action.
Several days of data are missing from both Bellagio Crescent and Lawrence Road thanks to the angry efforts of vandals who have painted, knocked over, pried open or even set fire to Hamilton's two battered photo-radar boxes.
When the pilot ends in September, city traffic experts will evaluate a year's worth of data to see if it's worthwhile adding photo-radar as a permanent collision-prevention tool.
From April onwards, the cameras will rotate to new locations every two weeks. Next up is Trinity Church Road.
Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com
Photo-radar: by the numbers
Stone Church Road (October 2020)
Total charges: 12,888
Worst speeder: 128 km/h (50 km/h limit)
Average speed pre-enforcement: 50 km/h (eastbound) and 55 km/h (westbound)
Average speed post enforcement: 52 km/h (EB) and 47 km/h (WB)
Glancaster Road (November 2020)
Total charges; 3,000
Worst speeder: 115 km/h (50 km/h limit)
Average speed pre-enforcement: 62 km/h (NB) and 59 km/h (SB)
Average speed post enforcement: 56 km/h (NB) 53 km/h (SB)
Bellagio Avenue (December 2020)
Total charges: 364*
Worst speeder: 80 km/h (30 km/h limit)
Average speed pre-enforcement: 42 km/h (EB) and 41 km/h (WB)**
Average speed post-enforcement 37 km/h (EB) and 39 km/h (WB)
*Only eastbound charges recorded because of westbound camera malfunction
**Posted limit was reduced from 50 to 30 km/h ahead of enforcement
Lawrence Road (Jan. 4 to 20)
Total charges: 745
Worst speeder: 110 km/h (50 km/h limit)
Average speed pre-enforcement 56 km/h (EB) and 57 km/h (WB)
Average speed post-enforcement 50 km/h (EB) and 51 km/h (WB)