Ottawa to turn off photo radar cameras on Nov. 14

Photo radar in Ottawa will no longer issue tickets after Nov. 14. As CTV’s Katelyn Wilson reports, the city is now looking at what comes next.

Ottawa’s 60 photo radar cameras will continue to keep an eye out for speeding motorists for 11 more days before they are permanently shut down by the city.

The Ontario government passed legislation last week that bans speed cameras on roads across the province and requires municipalities to turn off the cameras by Nov. 14. Municipalities will need to install large new signs to slow down drivers in areas where photo radar cameras are located, with permanent, large signs with flashing lights to be in place by September 2026.

The City of Ottawa tells CTV News Ottawa the automated speed enforcement cameras will continue to enforce the speed limits until Nov. 14, and any speeding infraction caught by the cameras by the end of next week will need to be paid, even if the ticket arrives after that date.

The city’s community safety zones, which it says are designated to protect vulnerable road users like children and cyclists, remain in place and fines for offences like speeding or careless driving issued by Ottawa police within these designated zones will remain doubled.

A memo on Tuesday said work is underway to assess operational impacts, including effects on road safety, staffing, financial resources and implications for the 2026 budget, as well as other program considerations.

Ottawa launched the automated speed enforcement camera program in July 2020, with eight photo radar cameras initially installed across the city. There are currently 60 photo radar cameras in operation in school zones, community safety zones and high-speed areas, and the city was spending $1.7 million to install 24 new photo radar cameras this fall, but work was halted on Oct. 3.

On Oct. 22, council approved a motion from Coun. Tim Tierney calling on the Ontario government to allow photo radar cameras to remain in school zones.

“To the province, we’re still here, we’re still listening. We need to keep the school zones – that’s the critical piece to the puzzle,” Tierney said during the council debate.

Statistics available on the City of Ottawa’s website show 1,081,836 speeding tickets have been issued through the automated speed enforcement program since the program was launched in July 2020. A total of 218,220 speeding tickets were issued between January and August 2025.

The photo radar cameras generated $60 million in revenue for the City of Ottawa between 2020 and 2024, with another $20 million in revenue generated between January and August this year.

The city says revenues generated from the automated speed enforcement program cover the cost of photo radar cameras and support initiatives in the Road Safety Action Plan, including engineering and enforcement to promote road safety for all road users.

Coun. Tim Tierney, chair of the public works and infrastructure committee, says that ability to raise revenue will no longer exist once the tickets stop going out.

“The province is looking at making us whole, giving us that money, but those terms and conditions are still yet to be settled,” he said.

“That money never went into general revenue, so, it doesn’t affect anything from a tax perspective, but it does affect what money we do have for road safety action programs that we do have in the city.”

Tierney also says there are 122 full time employees tied to the program.

“That’s something we’re looking at right now. Unfortunately, there is a major impact, from a staffing perspective. Obviously, the people that process the tickets, those are all people. It requires a physical body to be able to look to ensure it’s the appropriate tickets that have been issued. Unfortunately, those positions will no longer exist, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

While this legislation bans the use of automated speed enforcement cameras, the city says the use of red-light camera systems will continue to be permitted.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says speeding is a major concern for residents, and so the city will need to look into other options, including more police officers.

“We will have to look at other solutions to enforce speeds to make sure our roads remain safe. We are investing in hiring more police officers. I will continue talking with the police chief about how those officers can be deployed in the future to deal with speeding. It’s my intention to see more officers hired next year as part of the police budget and some of them might be used for that purpose,” he said Tuesday.

Ottawa’s current photo radar camera locations

Here’s where 60 active photo radar cameras are located:

• Abbey Hill Drive, between Aldburn Place and Sherwood Street
• Abbott Street East, between Moss Hill Trail and Shea Road
• Alta Vista Drive, between Ayers Avenue and Ridgemont Avenue
• Bayshore Drive, between Woodridge Crescent (north) and Woodridge Crescent (south)
• Bearbrook Road, between Centrepark Drive and Innes Road
• Berrigan Drive, between Croxley Way and Claridge Drive
• Bridge Street, between West River Drive to Arthur Crescent
• Bridgestone Drive, between Sunnybrooke Drive and Granite Court
• Bronson Avenue, between University Drive and Brewer Way
• Cambrian Road, between Greenbank Road and Kilbirnie Drive
• Cassidy Road, between Bruin Lane (north) and Bruin Lane (south)/Bruin Road
• Castlefrank Road, from Kakulu Road to Hungerford Gate
• Cedarview Road near Fallowfield Road
• Chapman Mills Drive, between Beatrice Drive and Meadgate Gate
• Colonial Road, between Delson Drive to Frank Kenny Road
• Crestway Drive, between Oldfield Street and Cresthaven Drive
• Crichton Street, between Vaughn Street to St. Patrick Street
• First Avenue, Chrysler Street and Percy Street
• Fisher Avenue, Deer Park Road and Kintyre Private
• Gardenway Drive, between Saturn Crescent/Paradise Crescent to Northlands Drive
• Greenbank Road, between Harrison Street and Banner Road
• Greenbank Road, between Jockvale Road and Half Moon Bay
• Heron Road, between Finn Court to Baycrest Drive
• Hunt Club Road, between Lorry Greenberg Drive and Pike Street
• Innes Road, between Provence Avenue and Trim Road
• Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard North, between Paddler Way/Vorlage Drive to Orleans Boulevard
• Kanata Avenue, between Goulbourn Forced Road and Walden Drive
• Katimavik Road, between McGibbon Drive and Castlefrank Road
• Kelly Farm Drive, between Bradwell Way and Alasken Drive
• King Edward Avenue, between Bolton Street and St. Patrick Street
• Kitchener Avenue, between Cochraine Street and Jasper Avenue
• Knoxdale Road, between Skipton Road to Cremona Crescent
• Longfields Drive, between Strandherd Drive to Marketplace Avenue
• Longfields Drive, between Verona Avenue and Highbury Park Drive
• Main Street, from Evelyn Avenue to Springhurst Avenue
• Meadowlands Drive, between Thatcher Street and Withrow Avenue
• Merivale Road, from MacFarlane Road to Brookdale Avenue
• Montreal Road, from Ogilvie Road to Bethamy Lane
• Ogilvie Road, between Elmlea Gate and Appleford Street
• Ogilvie Road, from Kender Avenue to La Verendrye Drive
• Old Richmond Road, from Kimberly Road to Tanglewood Drive
• Ottawa Street, from McBean Street to Cockburn Street
• Portobello Boulevard, between Capreol Street and Aquaview Drive
• Prince of Wales Drive, from Normandy Crescent/Kochar Drive to Falaise Road/Kochar Drive
• Queen Mary Street, from Edith Avenue to Quill Street
• Riverside Drive, between Mooney’s Bay Place and Ridgewood Avenue
• Smyth Road, between Edgecombe Street and Haig Drive
• Spratt Road, between Canyon Walk Drive/Goldeneye Way and Shoreline Drive
• St. Laurent Boulevard, between Noranda Avenue and Clarke Avenue
• Stittsville Main Street, between Bandelier Way and Hazeldean Road
• Stittsville Main Street, from Hobin Street to Beverly Street
• Stonehaven Drive, between Bridle Park Drive and Tandalee Crescent
• Stoneway Drive, between Forest Gate Way and Mountain Ash Drive
• Tenth Line Road, between Amiens Street and Épinettes Avenue
• Terry Fox Drive, from Richardson Side Road to Old Second Line Road
• Walkley Road, from Harding Road to Halifax Drive
• Walkley Road, from Colliston Crescent (north)/Albion Road to Colliston Crescent (south)
• Watters Road, between Charlemagne Boulevard and Roberval Avenue
• Woodroffe Avenue, between Anthony Avenue and Saville Row
• Woodroffe Avenue, between Georgina Drive and Highway 417

Locations for 20 new automated speed enforcement cameras

The city halted work on Oct. 3 to install new cameras at these 20 locations.

• Abbott Street East between Iber Road and Robert Grant Avenue
• Bank Street from Exhibition Way to Wilton Crescent
• Bearbrook Road between the continuation of Bearbrook Road and Westpark Drive North
• Carriere Street from Orleans Boulevard to Michaelsem Street
• Conroy Road from Lorry Greenberg Drive to Hunt Club Road
• Donald Street from Barnaby Private to Telford Avenue
• Dunrobin Road from Porcupine Trail to Thomas A. Dolan Parkway (Village of Dunrobin)
• Fisher Avenue between Trent Street and McCooey Lane
• Fisher Avenue between Meadowlands Drive and Urbisci Private
• Klondike Road between Sandhill Road and Marconi Avenue
• Lanark Avenue from Beechgrove Avenue to Briarway Private
• Longfields Drive from Mountshannon Drive to Silver Sage Avenue
• Manotick Main Street from Bankfield Road to Highcroft Drive (Village of Manotick)
• McArthur Avenue from Irwin Miller Street to Brant Street
• Meadowlands Drive East between Chesterton Drive and Tiverton Drive
• Old Richmond Road from Sanibel Private to Seyton Drive
• Osgoode Main Street from Elizabeth Street to Vance Street
• Perth Street between Cockburn Street and King Street North (Village of Richmond)
• River Run Avenue between Dovetail Heights and Grand Canal Street
• Rockdale Road between Horizon Drive and Buckland Road
• St. Georges Street between Marconi Drive and Galloway Drive
• Stonehaven Drive between Bridlewood Drive and Tamara Way
• Valin Street from Winsome Terrace to Provence Avenue
• Woodridge Crescent at Bayshore Drive near Bayshore Public School

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Katelyn Wilson