Strong support for speed cameras near schools in Ottawa, data shows

The 2024 Strategic Road Safety Action Plan Annual Report — received by Ottawa’s Transportation Committee last week — revealed strong support for the use of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras.

Data shows that 83 per cent of the community supports the use of speed cameras near schools in Ottawa, wrote Stittsville Councillor Glen Gower in his newsletter.

A total of 1,035 Ottawa residents responded to the Speed Camera Attitude Survey commissioned by the city, which was open from Aug. 7 to 18.

According to Gower, results from the survey conducted using randomly selected participants indicates that:

  • 90 per cent of residents are aware of the city’s use of automated speed enforcement near schools and parks
  • 83 per cent support use in areas where there are children near schools
  • 80 per cent support use in areas near children’s parks and playgrounds
  • 49 per cent support use on “any road where there is speeding”
  • 45 per cent support use in high-speed corridors
  • 53 per cent per cent support automated speed enforcement
  • 35 per cent per cent received a ticket from an automated speed enforcement camera, and of those, 69 per cent said it changed their behaviour
  • 43 per cent find speed cameras effective or very effective, 27 per cent view them as moderately effective, and 30 per cent do not consider them effective
  • 71 per cent support the funds from automated speed enforcement to be re-invested in road safety initiatives that help reduce the incidence of fatal and major injury collisions (which is what Ottawa does with any revenue collected from fines)

“I always take online survey results with a bit of skepticism – but even so, the numbers reflect what I’m hearing from the community: overall support for speed cameras in most situations,” wrote Gower.

Studies by the city, before and after the installation of ASE cameras, indicate that the cameras have been effective in speed reduction. Data shows continued improvement in people following the speed limit.

Additionally, it also reflects a notable reduction in high-end speeding at locations with a speed camera.

Are speed camera's effective? Table showing data gathered.
Table showing that speed camera implementation has reduced speeding in Ottawa. (Image by Glen Gower)

The west-end councillor also notes that fatal and major injuries related to vehicle collisions could be trending downward.

A total of 105 Fatal and Major Injury (FMI) collisions in Ottawa were reported in 2023, compared with an average of 120 per year, averaged over the previous five years.

Image by Glen Gower.

(Image by Glen Gower)

Almost every FMI metric (shown in the table above) declined from 2019-2023, compared with baseline data from 2013-2017.

“But the latest data includes much lower traffic levels and collision numbers during the 2020/2021 pandemic lockdowns, which may be impacting some of those numbers,” added Gower.

According to the City of Ottawa, the 2020-2024 Road Safety Action Plan is directed at reducing collisions resulting in major injury or death, with the goal of a 20 per cent reduction in the average annual rate of fatal and major injury collisions by 2024.

The city’s plan for road safety is working to reduce FMI’s even further, including protecting vulnerable road users, improving safety at high-collision intersections, safety improvements in rural areas and targeting high-risk drivers, explained Gower.

Source