Motorists exceeding the speed limit in Greater Sudbury are about to get a hit to the wallet.
Six automated speed trap cameras are expected to begin ticketing drivers in Greater Sudbury by mid-November.
Provincial legislation requires the municipality to install signs alerting motorists to the cameras’ locations at least 90 days prior to enforcement, meaning the following locations have already been identified:
- Bellevue Avenue (between Picard Street and Ralph Street)
- Algonquin Road (between Maurice Street and Field Street)
- Falconbridge Road (between Donnelly Drive and Church Street)
- Main Street, Val Caron (between Justin Street and MR 80)
- Hillcrest Drive (between Brian Street and Mikkola Road)
- Gary Avenue (between Lasalle Blvd and Madison Avenue)
Depending on when each location’s respective sign was installed, tickets will begin being issued by mid-November and mid-December, city traffic and transportation engineering analyst Ryan Purdy told Sudbury.com.
“Speeding is the No. 1 concern we get, so this is one of the main tools we can use in order to get those speeds to come down,” he said.
Similar to the city’s collection of six red-light cameras, the city’s speed-trap cameras will have machines snap photographs of offending vehicles' licence plates, which are analyzed at a joint processing centre the City of Toronto has set up.
Because the evidence the machines collect can determine the vehicle and not necessarily the driver, tickets issued will not result in demerit points against motorists.
The city has not yet determined a threshold for how much beyond maximum posted speed limits tickets will begin being issued, Purdy said, clarifying, “It definitely won’t be one over the speed limit, but it won’t be 20.”
“The message we’ve been trying to give residents is that if you drive the speed limit you won’t get a ticket,” he added.
Ticket amounts will be $5 for every kilometre over the posted speed limit, up to 19 km/h in exceedance. Between 20-29 km/h exceedance, the fine is $7.50, and between 30-49 is $12.50 per km/hr exceedance.
Provincial legislation doesn’t allow automated speed enforcement cameras to issue tickets against motorists exceeding 49 km/h over the posted speed limit.
“However, we can give Greater Sudbury police the evidence so they can go out and issue the offence,” Purdy said. “We are currently working on a process with GSPS.”
The cameras are mobile, and will be relocated every four months down a list of priority locations the city has calculated. This means the city will work its way down their list of top 18 ranked locations within the program’s first year, listed below. Signs will be posted to let motorists know about the upcoming cameras at least 90 days before they go live, at which time the new signs alerting motorists to their presence will be installed.
- Bellevue Avenue (between Picard Street and Ralph Street): 12.5 (scored ranking)
- Algonquin Road (between Maurice Street and Field Street): 12
- Falconbridge Road (between Donnelly Drive and Church Street): 11.75
- Main Street, Val Caron (between Justin Street and MR 80): 11.5
- Bancroft Drive (between Kingsway and Bellevue Avenue): 11.25
- Valleyview Road (between Evans Road and Fournier Drive): 11.25
- Hillcrest Drive (between Brian Street and Mikkola Road): 11
- MR 80, McCrea Heights (between Robin Avenue and Hubert Street): 11
- Garson Coniston Road (between Maki Street and Falconbridge Road): 10.75
- Howey Drive (between Downing Street and Somerset Street): 10.50
- Hawthorne Drive (between Westmount Ave and Patrick Street): 10.25
- Notre Dame Street East, Azilda (between Leo Street and Rayside Avenue): 10.25
- Second Avenue, Sudbury (between First Avenue and Kenwood Drive): 10.25
- Loach's Road (between Oriole Drive and Cerilli Crescent): 10
- Countryside Drive (between Blyth Road and Algonquin Road): 9.75
- Gary Avenue (between Lasalle Boulevard and Madison Avenue): 9.75
- Bancroft Drive (between Estelle Street and Hazelton Drive): 9.75
- Moonlight Avenue (between Claude Street and Gagne Street): 9.75
This effort joins other road safety efforts the city has undertaken in recent years, Purdy said, with gateway speed limits, red-light cameras and traffic-calming bollards a few other examples.
“The idea is to slow vehicles down, and to lower the number of collisions happening on the roadways,” he said. “The big overarching theme for these programs is road safety.”
In some cases, there’s overlap between these efforts, such as the stretch of Bancroft Drive, which has traffic-calming bollards and is also slated to receive automated speed enforcement cameras. Traffic-calming bollards are removed during the winter months, Purdy said, which is why Bancroft Drive’s speed trap cameras will be set up during the winter.
The gateway speed limits, which lower speed limits to 40 km/h (and 30 km/h for school zones), are most effective when accompanied by enforcement, according to a report Purdy tabled with city council earlier this year.
There are a few gateway speed limit locations within the list of 18 streets receiving speed trap cameras, he said. This includes Algonquin Road, which is among those in the first round to receive cameras.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
