Speed cameras have saved lives in Mississauga, mayor tells MPPs as Ontario considers ban

Speed cameras have saved lives in Mississauga, the city’s mayor told local MPPs as part of a continued push to keep the roadside devices active in school zones.

Faced with the prospect of an Ontario-wide ban on automated speed enforcement cameras, Mississauga and numerous other municipalities are fighting to keep the cameras deployed.

In the City of Mississauga’s latest attempt to convince Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other provincial politicians that the ASE cameras are working and should remain in place, Mayor Carolyn Parrish sent a letter to Mississauga MPPs outlining what the city argues are the many benefits of the anti-speeding devices.

“The ASE program in Mississauga is working well and has been an important road safety tool that has proven effective at reducing speeds on average by 9 km/h, saving lives in the process,” she wrote in the Oct. 23 letter. “When people slow down, the risk of serious injury and death drops significantly.”

Continuing, Parrish encouraged the MPPs “to advocate to the Premier and the Minister of Transportation to keep this program in place, but with reasonable amendments to address some of the concerns raised by the Premier and others, as well as ensure fairness for everyone. We agree that every program should be reviewed to ensure it is working effectively.”

Mayor Carolyn Parrish told Mississauga MPPs in a letter that automated speed enforcement cameras have saved lives in the city.

The mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city also noted in the correspondence that Mississauga’s ASE camera program is not a “cash grab,” as Ford has described the devices, but instead “an important tool that keeps speeds down in school zones, protects vulnerable people like children and older adults, and makes our communities safer. I think these are goals we can all agree are important. Mississauga has been the gold standard for the implementation of ASE cameras.”

At the conclusion of her letter, Parrish urged the Mississauga MPPs to consider next year’s municipal election.

“Candidates will be going door to door and will no doubt hear about road safety and speeding in their wards. If (the proposed legislation banning speed cameras) is passed as currently written, these candidates will no longer have the power to commit to one of the most effective road safety measures available, leaving the province and you as MPPs to answer some tough questions.”

Parrish’s communication with local MPPs follows a “strong letter” she sent to Ford a month earlier imploring him to reconsider his decision to ban speed cameras.

An ASE camera program report presented last week at Mississauga city council noted 169,109 fines were dished out under the initiative between its launch in June 2021 and this past August.

The report, compiled by senior city staff, concluded the ASE camera initiative has been “an effective speed deterrent” that has made school zones in Mississauga safer for kids and others.

On Oct. 20, the provincial government introduced proposed legislation aimed at, among other things, eliminating speed cameras altogether in Ontario municipalities.

Under the Ontario government’s plan, a provincial fund will help municipalities implement alternative road safety measures such as speed bumps, roundabouts, raised crosswalks and curb extensions, as well as public education and improved signage, to slow down drivers in the absence of cameras should the legislation pass.