Queenston and Centennial Parkway intersection
By Kevin Werner, HCN
Hamilton public works committee approved five more locations for red-light cameras. Stoney Creek councillor Doug Conley said Centennial Parkway should be considered as a site.
Starting in 2017 red-light cameras will be at Charlton Avenue East and John Street South; Mohawk Road West and Upper Paradise Road; Hess Street North and York Boulevard; Dundas Street East and Mill Street South; and Highway 8 and Green Road.
Staff is also looking at installing 20 additional red-light cameras at high-collision intersections over the next five years.
“This program has provided great deterrence,” said Mountain councillor Tom Jackson, a proponent of the project. “This is a government program that has paid for itself.”
Hamilton introduced the red-light camera program in November 2000 as a pilot project, and now has 19 intersections being watched by the cameras across the city. Under the new five-year contract, Trafficpax LLC, the private company that oversees the program, the city can install cameras at 25 new sites beginning in 2017.
The still controversial program has already paid for out of its reserve fund for new zebra crosswalks, school zone beacons, speed limit and truck route reviews, and other pedestrian safety measures.
Each camera costs about $105,200 to operate and process the tickets. The five new sites will mean an extra cost of $526,000, plus the addition of a full-time employee at a cost of $78,500. But Martin White, manager of traffic operations says the program will still earn about $2.5 million after costs that will be directed into the red-light reserve fund.
He said the priority locations for the cameras are determined based upon the high rate of right-hand collisions.
“We are trying to reduce (right-hand) collisions,” he said.
He said staff are already reviewing the 20 other sites that could get a red-light camera over the next few years.
Those sites include Fennell Avenue East and Upper Wentworth Street; King Street East and Parkdale Avenue; Barton Street East and Kenilworth Avenue North; Sanford Avenue North and Wilson Street; and Stone Church Road East and Upper Gage Avenue.
Stoney Creek councillor Doug Conley said there are a few intersections along Centennial Parkway that should be included in the list. Although there haven’t been any serious accidents yet, people are still driving through red lights, he said.
Source: Hamilton Community News