Chow lends her support to speed cameras as Ford readies to make announcement about them on Thursday

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Police Chief Myron Demkiw stood firm on the cities stance in support of the use of speed cameras.

Mayor Olivia Chow says she has no plans to scrap Toronto’s speed camera program as Premier Doug Ford readies to make an announcement about them on Thursday.

Five years ago, the Ontario PC government, lead by Ford at that time, passed a law allowing municipalities to install automatic speed enforcement (ASE) cameras.

Now, the premier is calling the devices “just a tax grab,” saying they should all be removed for unfairly targetting motorists who drive slightly over the speed limit.

“I’m going to help them get rid of them very shortly,” Ford said earlier this month.

And while he hasn’t named names, Ford insists that behind closed doors some mayors admit the cameras aren’t about road safety.

“They tell me straight out. Well, it’s not about that, we need the money and we’re going to put it towards, you know, roads and this and that,” said Ford, who seems ready to take money out of the equation.

“We’re going to be giving municipalities across the province a lot of money to put in all sorts of street calming methods from a little turnabouts, from speed bumps to flashing signs.”

Vaughan, however, decided last week to suspend its ASE program on all city streets, citing that when it comes to protecting the “most vulnerable roads users and ensuring no unfair financial burden is placed on residents at a time of financial uncertainty” the “balance tips too heavily toward monetary penalties on residents.”

In a post on social media, Ford praised that city for its decision to scrap the initiative.

On Wednesday morning, Chow lent her support to the program, saying Torontonians “need to be safe.”

“... we know speed cameras work. It reduces speed, and we know speed kills, and that is why Toronto will always support having a speed camera (program) to ensure that our most vulnerable are protected,” she said following an unrelated news conference where a pilot project for crisis workers at TTC stations was announced.

“We also know if you get hit by a 50 km/h car, your chance of survival is very low. People die mostly, 85 per cent. If you are hit by a 30km/h car, (there’s) maybe a 15 per cent chance you would die. … We know speed cameras work, according to all the research, especially from SickKids.”

Chows comments come as the city’s ASE vendor works to repair almost 20 cameras that have been knocked down or damaged this month alone.

Strong support for speed cameras in Ontario

The Ontario Chiefs of Police have also recently come out in strong support of speed cameras, saying that removing them will put vulnerable road users at risk and urging the Premier to reconsider.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles, meanwhile, said eliminating ASE is “idiotic.”

“I actually am kind of appalled that the Premier thinks that, you know, he’s supporting the vandalism of these this public property. I think it’s really awful,” she said in a statement.

Today, Toronto Coun. Josh Matlow called out the Premier for wanting to get rid of the cameras, saying that he is failiing to show leadership by “playing political games with the safety of our communities.”

“Premier Ford, what wouldn’t you do to keep the people you love safe? Everyone killed on our roads was a member of a family and out community. You claim you support the police and law and order. How does that square with banning a proven tool they advise to keep our kids safe?,” he wrote in a post on social media on Wednesday.

The Toronto-St. Paul rep said he appreciates that residents are frustrated with speed cameras and said he wants to see a “common sense and evidence-based approach” when it comes to how the program is run.

He says automatic speed enforcement in the city has “not occurred in a transparent way, which has undermined public confidence,” adding that those who drive slightly over the limit need not be penalized.

Matlow to introduce motion on ASE next week

Matlow said he intends to introduce a motion at next week’s city Council meeting that, among other things, would require speed cameras to be clearly marked and provide a “more reasonable and transparent speed threshold.”

“I want to make sure that council recognizes that our policy needs to be reasonable, that there needs to be some reasonable grace, and we are really after the people who are speaking excessively, who are being reckless and who don’t care about the safety of everyone around,” he told CP24 late Wednesday afternoon.

Back in June, Chow introduced her own motion on Toronto’s ASE program, which would include installing bigger and clearer signage to warn drivers, exploring ways to deliver tickets faster, preventing drivers from racking up multiple speed camera tickets at a single location before receiving their first warning in the mail, and capping the number of infractions a vehicle owner can receive from a single location before being formally notified.

That item is set to be considered at the October 29 meeting of the city’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee.

Toronto’s police chief, however, wasn’t prepared to get into camera politics when asked about his take on the situation on Wednesday morning.

“We’ve been very clear as police leaders in this province, and I’ve been very clear as chief of the city, that our approach to traffic enforcement and road safety is a holistic approach that involves many considerations, speed cameras being one, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to speculate on what’s in the Premier’s mind,” he said, adding that a “bigger discussion” will have to be had to “address what is left unchallenged or unchecked behavior when speed cameras are gone.”

“I’m concerned to the extent that we will have to come together as partners and really dig into what we do to address that, to ensure our trend of increased road safety keeps going in the right direction.”

Demkiw noted that ASE is but one aspect of the city’s Vision Zero Road Safety Plan, pointing to environmental design, police enforcement, and other measures.

He said Toronto police “remain laser focused on enforcing the Highway Traffic Act, particularly around things like aggressive, dangerous driving, speeding and the things that we know cause harm and kill people in our roadways.”

“So we will continue to be committed to that and ... working with our city to ensure we do what we can as partners, collaborating together to continue the positive trend we’ve seen in the city, which is fatalities are down. The roadways are statistically becoming safer because of this collaboration, because of all the different things we are doing, and speed cameras, happens to be one of those things,” Demkiw said.

Torontonians divided on ASE program

Torontonians, meanwhile, are divided on what do about the controversial program, which several municipalities and regions across Ontario have implemented.

Just last week nearly 200 people shared their thoughts with CTV News Toronto, with many in support of them while others taking issue with the devices.

• We asked Torontonians for their thoughts on speed cameras. This is what they said

The elimination of speed cameras would be the latest in a long line of Ford government moves aimed at drivers, that have included banning road tolls, congestion pricing, and a carbon tax – all moves the PC Government has described as distractions.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Siobhan Morris and Alex Arsenych