A sign of the times for Barrie city councillor Gary Harvey.
City council got behind Harvey's direct motion on Wednesday night to amend the city's rates of speed bylaw which he said will do is "remove the confusion at the two current ASE (automated speed enforcement) locations with the new automated speed cameras has caused."
Currently, the enforcement cameras operate Monday to Friday between September and June from 7:40 a.m. to 9:25 a.m., 12:55 to 2:05 p.m., and 3 to 4 p.m., when school zones are most active.
To bring clarity to the program, the new enforcement times will be 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, Sept. 1 to June 30.
Harvey hopes the change will take effect when the cameras are moved to two new locations in February.
"Obviously when you're travelling with the current signage that had to go up for these automated speed cameras, it's quite difficult to read three different times that the speeds are changing throughout the day," he stated.
Harvey said other municipalities that have had the speed cameras before Barrie have a solid time from morning to afternoon.
He added the new time will take in extra curriculars at schools.
"I think it just makes it that much safer for our school zones having a solid speed of 40 km/h through school zones throughout the day."
ASE began in Barrie on December 1, 2023. The two cameras will be rotated to different community safety zones every few months.
The cameras are currently located eastbound on Big Bay Point Road near Willow Landing and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic elementary schools, the other is southbound on Anne Street North near Portage View Public and ÉSC Nouvelle-Alliance schools.
In February, the city said the cameras will be moved to northbound Essa Road near Timothy Christian School and westbound Ardagh Road in the vicinity of Heritage Baptist Church.
The cameras are triggered by a threshold speed, though what that is has not been disclosed.
There are 27 community safety zones in total that have been identified in Barrie as problem areas where the cameras could be installed. This is based on data collected showing areas where drivers are regularly going over the posted limit.
According to the City, a community safety zone is an area designated through the Community Safety Zones By-law passed by council to identify it as a road segment of higher risk or concern. Certain Highway Traffic Act fines (including speeding) are doubled in community safety zones and many community safety zones are located close to schools.
Under an agreement with the City, LAS will intially fund two Provincial Offences officers at the City of Barrie who will process speed-camera violations on behalf of municipalities participating in the ASE program. Provincial law requires highway traffic violations, such as speeding, to be issued by the police or by a designated Provincial Offences officer employed by a municipality.
To learn more about the Automated Speed Enforcement Program, visit barrie.ca/traffic.
Banner image: ASE camera located on Big Bay Point Road/Barrie 360
