Motorists will want to watch out for cameras on a one-kilometre stretch of King Edward Avenue, where photo radar and red light cameras have caught thousands of drivers so far this year.
The road through Ottawa’s Lowertown neighbourhood is busy with motorists travelling between Ottawa and Gatineau over the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge every day.
The stretch of King Edward Avenue is home to three of Ottawa’s busiest red light cameras, and the busiest photo radar camera.
During the first three months of the year, the three red light cameras on the road, between Besserer Street and the Macdonald Cartier Bridge have issued 1,773 tickets.
Here is a look at the total number of tickets issued by red light cameras on King Edward Avenue between January and March:
- King Edward Avenue southbound at St. Patrick Street – 984 tickets
- King Edward Avenue northbound at St. Andrew Street – 402 tickets
- King Edward Avenue northbound at Besserer Street – 387 tickets
The photo radar camera on King Edward Avenue, between Cathcart Street and St. Patrick Street, issued 7,569 tickets in March, the camera’s first month of operation.
The city of Ottawa has no plans to add more photo radar cameras on King Edward Avenue this year.
“Since my election in October 2022, I’ve had three pedestrian deaths in and around that area,” Rideau-Vanier Ward Coun. Stéphanie Plante told CTV News on Thursday. “The more people slow down, the more we can take into account the reality that most people getting around on my ward are doing so on foot, on bikes, on scooters.”
Lowertown resident Kirill Abbakumov says more traffic calming is needed in the area.
“I would definitely love to see it on Rideau Street. I walk to work a lot on Rideau and it’s just a free-for-all most of the time,” Abbakumov said. “If people don’t want to follow the rules, we need to remind them, and this is a way to do it.”
Red Light Camera tickets
Ottawa’s 85 red light camera tickets have issued 10,786 tickets to drivers in the first three months of the year.
The busiest red light camera is on King Edward Avenue at St. Patrick Street, with 984 tickets. The camera caught 361 red light runners in March.
The camera on Wellington Street southbound at Bay Street issued 708 tickets in the January to March period.
Ottawa’s red light cameras issued a total of 56,475 tickets to drivers in 2023 and 53,956 tickets for running red lights in 2022.
Here is a look at the top 15 red light camera locations so far in 2024 (January to March):
- King Edward Avenue southbound at St. Patrick Street – 984 tickets
- Wellington Street southbound at Bay Street – 708 tickets
- King Edward Avenue northbound at St. Andrew Street – 402 tickets
- King Edward Avenue northbound at Besserer Street – 387 tickets
- Hunt Club Road eastbound at Downpatrick Road – 324 tickets
- Kent Street northbound at Arlington – 278 tickets
- Elgin Street eastbound at Pretoria Bridge/Queen Elizabeth Driveway – 269 tickets
- Carling Avenue eastbound at Holly Acres – 266 tickets
- Catherine Street westbound at Kent Street – 265 tickets
- Heron Road west of Bank Street – 258 tickets
- Carling Avenue eastbound at Island Park Drive – 249 tickets
- Vanier Parkway southbound at Presland – 245 tickets
- Walkley Road westbound at Ryder/Don Reid Drive – 237 tickets
- Russell Road southbound at St. Laurent Boulevard – 232 tickets
- Berrigan Drive at Wessex/Greenbank – 215 tickets
–With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Sam Houpt.