Don’t like the city’s automated speed-enforcement cameras? Don’t speed and there won’t be an issue.
So described Greater Sudbury Police Board chair Gerry Lougheed during Wednesday's meeting.
“It seems to me the only people getting tickets are the ones speeding,” he said. “Just food for thought."
He later added to this point by saying that opposition to the cameras falls on deaf ears with him, reiterating, “If you’ve got a ticket, it means you’re speeding.”
Automated speed-enforcement camera opponents had asked Lougheed to push for their removal from Greater Sudbury streets, prompting him to ask Chief Sara Cunningham her opinion on the cameras prior to sharing his own thoughts on the matter.
Although installing the cameras was a city initiative, Cunningham said, “We believe that the data is showing that it is reducing speeding.”
“We know that speed kills, and if there’s any deterrent that encourages people to drive appropriately and safely, then we as a police service will support that."
Automated speed-enforcement cameras have been under a spotlight in recent days due to Premier Doug Ford’s opposition to them, with the premier dismissing them as nothing but a “tax grab.” In a recent interview with journalists, Ford said that he hoped municipalities would “get rid of them,” adding, “or I’m going to help them get rid of them.”
No legislation has passed to force municipalities’ hands.
The City of Greater Sudbury has no plans to remove automated speed-enforcement cameras, of which they have six mobile units. The cameras change locations every four months, and locations have already been lined up for them to be situated next month.
Meanwhile, they’ve proven effective at slowing traffic, both in other jurisdictions and locally, in report after report.
As Greater Sudbury Police Board member and Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer pointed out during Wednesday’s meeting, motorists have not only slowed down when cameras were in place, but also maintained slower speeds after cameras were removed than they did prior to the cameras' introduction.
Upstream of automated speed enforcement cameras, 85th percentile speeds (the speed at or below which 85-per-cent of vehicles are travelling) decreased by an average of 14 per cent from August to December 2024.
Downstream of automated speed enforcement cameras, 85th percentile speeds decreased by an average of 11 per cent during this same timeframe.
To assess whether these changes had a lasting effect, the city conducted a follow-up review in March of this year, after enforcement had ended.
This study showed that although motorists sped up a bit, 85th percentile speed remained an average of 7 km/h lower than pre-enforcement levels.
“These results suggest that automated speed enforcement not only encourages drivers to slow down when approaching cameras, but also promotes safer driving habits that continue even after they’ve passed the enforcement zone, and even after enforcement,” a city spokesperson clarified to Sudbury.com last month.
Earlier this week, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario sent Ford a letter urging him to back off from his efforts to cancel speed cameras, noting, "The evidence shows that if (automated speed enforcement) cameras are removed, speeds will increase in community safety zones and more pedestrians will be at risk.”
"Speed limits are legal requirements and enforcement of the law is not a cash grab or a tax," Association of Municipalities of Ontario president Robin Jones wrote in the group’s letter to Ford.
"Net (automated speed enforcement) revenues are reinvested in community safety improvements and mean that police officers can focus on other higher-impact activities."
This has been the case in Greater Sudbury, where speed camera revenue has been spent on various traffic calming efforts.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.