City of Ottawa owed millions in unpaid fines for red light, photo radar camera violations

A photo radar camera in Ottawa. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa)

Drivers owe the City of Ottawa more than $16 million in unpaid fines for photo radar and red light camera violations over the past six years.

The city's red light camera program has resulted in 300,338 tickets issued to drivers for running red lights since January 1, 2018, while the automated speed enforcement program has resulted in 673,567 speeding tickets since the program launched in July 2020.

Statistics provided to CTV News Ottawa that there are 49,183 "unpaid and defaulted" fines totaling $8.8 million for photo radar infractions, and 21,236 "unpaid and defaulted" fines worth $7.299 million for red light camera violations.

The ticket is considered past due 91 days from the day the ticket is issued.

City staff say on average, seven per cent of tickets issued by the cameras remain unpaid.

"Unpaid fines can lead to license plate denial, transfer of offence to the property tax roll, garnishment of wages or a writ of seizure and sale," staff said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

"Additionally, the City can make referrals to a private collection agency for enhanced collection. The City of Ottawa has an agreement in place with Province of Quebec, which includes the denial of license plate renewal."

Ottawa has "reciprocal agreements" with other provinces to collect the fines for unpaid tickets from drivers outside of Ontario.

The city says the average number of unpaid tickets has increased from four per cent before the pandemic to seven per cent now.

The fine for being caught running a red light by the red light cameras is $325, which includes a service fee and victim surcharge.  The fine for speeding when caught by an automated speed enforcement camera depends on how fast the driver was travelling, with fines doubled for speeding in a community safety zone.

Tickets issued through the automated speed enforcement cameras and red light cameras are issued to the registered owner of the vehicle, not the driver at the time of the infraction.

Earlier this year, thousands of people saw a dip in their credit score because of old tickets and fines issued in Ottawa dating back to 2003.

The city contracted a new private collections agency to collect 103,000 unpaid Provincial Offences Act fines.  The collection agency told CTV News Ottawa in March that once someone pays off the balance on the account, all credit scores will be updated.