Windsor Moving Forward with Red Light Cameras
The City of Windsor is moving forward with red light cameras.
A city committee approved the idea last month and council gave the green light Monday for the city to apply to the Ministry of Transportation to be added to a list of municipalities interested in the initiative.
Councillor Fabio Costante has been advocating for the cameras since being elected to council in 2018.
Costante says this is just one piece to making Windsor's roads safer.
"When we look at creating safer streets for all users, whether they be folks in their car, folks riding their bikes or walking, I think this is one piece to the puzzle," he says. "This is certainly not going to solve all the problems, but this in conjunction with other things that we're looking at, together we can really move the needle on safer streets for all of our users."
The initial roll out will include 10 intersections around the city including with each camera costing between $52,000 to $90,000.
Costante says traffic engineers conducted a study to choose the locations.
"The traffic engineers did a five-year study on red light offences and traffic volumes. There were a variety of factors that went into determining the most unsafe intersections in the city," he says.
Costante says all of council agreed the locations should not be politicized.
"We all have our own anecdotal views and experiences and we drive through these intersections ourselves right? And we hear complaints from residents, but it was important that this process be very much data driven, very much driven by our traffic engineers to identify where there's the greatest hot spots and risks," he says.
Costante adds, if all goes to plan, the cameras will likely start to be installed within the next two months.
Council also approved photo radar within the city, but that issue will be discussed further during 2021 budget deliberations.