A Vexing Plague

Stupidity and ignorance are things I spend a great deal of time thinking about. Although the conditions know no national boundaries, I find the Americans easy to single out for their profound inability or refusal to think. But here at home, the same condition, although less widespread and deep, is also to be found. We see it reflected in our leaders, who frequently ignore empirical evidence with no negative impact on their standing with the masses. Doug Ford, Ontario's premier, is a good case in point.

Ford, ever the populist, has declared war on speed cameras, promising legislation to ban them, dismissing them as ineffective and mere cash grabs to augment municipalities' coffers. 

Despite study findings and the opinion of police associations and municipalities to the contrary, Ford said speed cameras don't slow people down...

Others beg to differ. 

Automated speed cameras have reduced speeding around Toronto school zones by nearly half, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Injury Prevention and led by researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Metropolitan University, looked at the effect of automated speed enforcement cameras deployed across 250 school zones around Toronto from July 2020 to December 2022.

Looking at speeding data in these areas before and after speed cameras were installed, it found that cameras have reduced the proportion of speeding vehicles in urban school zones by 45 per cent. 

While the proportion of drivers going 10 km/h over the speed limits decreased by 74 per cent, the study found the proportion of drivers going 15 km/h over the limit decreased by 84 per cent. Drivers going 20 km/h or more over the limit fell by 88 per cent, the study found.

Statistics, indeed, most things empirical, mean nothing to people of Ford's ilk, so 20 Ontario mayors are trying to get him to change his mind with compromises and the opportunity to save face.

"For most of us, the intention has always been to install cameras in school zones to protect our most vulnerable residents — our children," says the leaders' letter.

"A total ban on ASE would reverse years of progress on safety in school zones. It would place more pressure on police, increase enforcement costs, and most critically, endanger lives," it says.

The letter lists compromises the municipalities are willing to make to keep ASE measures in school zones, including the following:

• Warning tickets for a first-time offence.
• Setting cameras at a reasonable threshold of speed before a ticket is issued.
• Cameras only operate during school and community use times.
• Blackout on additional fines for seven days after a driver receives the first ticket to allow them to change their behaviour. 

Perhaps Burlington Mayor  Marianne Meed Ward said it best:

"Our letter is really our plea. It's an SOS to the premier. A 'save our schoolkids.' When you get hit by a car at 30 (km/h you have a chance of surviving that. When the speeds go to 40 or 50, your chances of surviving that impact drop dramatically," she said.

Will any of this be enough to move the Premier? I have my doubts, but there is something else that might persuade him to change course. 

A Canadian Automobile Association South Central Ontario survey, conducted by market researcher DIG Insights and released Wednesday, finds 73 per cent of respondents support automated speed enforcement in certain areas.

The survey, which was conducted from March 7 to 19 and surveyed 1,500 Ontario drivers 18 or older, also found 76 per cent of respondents believe cameras deter speeding. The survey's margin of error is listed as +/- two per cent. 

Populists prefer to be popular with the electorate. Whether the engaged element of the citizenry have enough influence carry the day in the midst of wide scale ignorance, however, remains to be seen.