Comments on: York Region identifies 20 places for red-light cameras

By: rodkimble

rodkimble — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 03:53:58 +0000

One more – Hwy 27 & Langstaff: 70kph road, northbound 27 faces a hill that blocks view of oncoming traffic, yet no advance light…

Sorry for spamming the comments, but it grinds my gears when they act like they’re doing everything they can by adding cameras when there’s so many other better improvements that can be done.

By: rodkimble

rodkimble — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:05:53 +0000

Had to drive from Markham to Vaughan and back along 7 tonight. Some notes about the proposed camera intersections:

Vaughan Valley and 7: the light is poorly synchronized (or not at all) with 27 – you barely make it through after 27 turns green.

Weston and 7: the intersection is 8 lanes by 9 lanes wide!! Is it really surprising there’s problems? Plus it’s not synchronized with Famous Ave, giving drivers incentive to try to rush through the light.

Bathurst and 7: pedestrian countdown is too short and then it turns to a solid hand (from flashing) for a few seconds rather than just turning yellow which makes it even more confusing.

If these intersections are identified as being higher risk, then you would think they would try to fix the problems with them instead of just sticking up cameras. But one solution costs money while the other generates money…

By: rodkimble

rodkimble — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:34:05 +0000

I’m not against red light cameras – there’s no excuse for running a red. But a picture of a licence plate doesn’t do much to help the person being t-boned. Until municipalities start doing more to directly improve safety, I’m going to keep believing everyone who says it’s all about revenue.

Here’s some examples that would reduce serious collisions, none of which I see being applied very consistently:

1. Countdown timers (and ones that actually give enough time for slow pedestrians – not just 10 seconds): They give vehicles a much greater idea of whether or not the light will change soon. At least these are starting to become more common.

2. Advance lights: Waiting in the intersection for the light to change yellow and then trying judge if everyone is going to stop before you turn is one of the most dangerous driving situations.

3. Get rid of lanes that that end or exit just before or after intersections. Drivers shouldn’t have to focus half their attention on trying to merge into other lanes while navigating intersections.

4. ROUNDABOUTS!! It’s almost impossible to have an accident with serious injuries in a roundabout. Of course that doesn’t apply to pedestrians and bicyclists, but they face just as much danger in a light controlled intersection; at least in a roundabout, drivers and bicyclists/pedestrians are forced to pay attention to each other and communicate. York is starting to use them, but I wish they had them at more major intersections.

By: Adam Leggett

Adam Leggett — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:38:39 +0000

If the province and/or municipalities are adding things such as this to their revenue making arsenal, I will add things to my revenue retention arsenal. Pretty simple.

By: John Anderson

John Anderson — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:24:41 +0000

Title was misleading. I wanted to see where the 20 locations were. Why tell us they have been identified if you don’t know where they are. Perhaps a more legitimate tile would have been York plans on installing cameras at 20 yet to be determined intersections.

By: John Anderson

John Anderson — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:21:28 +0000

Mr. Leggett
Last time I looked radar/laser detectors were illegal in Ontario. May I suggest you keep your money in your wallet and just stop for the red lights. Oh and keep the speed down as your detector won’t see him in your mirror as he clocks you with his spedometer.

By: John

John — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:19:31 +0000

What a crock! The Waterloo Record published an indepth study on the effectiveness of red light cameras last year. It noted that far from being a great safety tool, red light cameras have been proven to actually INCREASE some types of accidents. It also noted that their effectiveness in decreasing side impact accidents was not very impressive. However, the story did note that these cameras are a big source of revenue for both the company that owns the cameras and the municipality. The company that owned the cameras earned about $125 per ticket in fees on each gotcha! as I recall while the balance which was in the millions went to the Region of Waterloo. If this was about safety then the municiplaity should not be allowed to turn it into a money making venture.

By: Adam Leggett

Adam Leggett — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:49:11 +0000

When someone is T-boned at a red light, it’s usually because they didn’t notice the light at all and ploughed through it. It’s not because they went through 1.3 seconds after the change, or because it was 3AM and they got tired of waiting 10 minutes for the light to change and crept through it. This is a naked revenue grab.

By: Adam Leggett

Adam Leggett — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:39:48 +0000

My advice: Go to Best Buy at the Galleria Mall in Buffalo and buy an Escort 9500ix radar/laser detector. It uses GPS to locate things like red light cameras, the database includes Toronto and is updated regularly. It’s been nearly foolproof for me.

By: Tanvir

Tanvir — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:35:43 +0000

Laws and bye-laws are costing dearly to public. Hand Free driving law, do not use cell phone while driving or even sitting in a car and now red light cameras enforcment, all these efforts have increased the Road Side Safety for Public and number of accidents have reduced drastically.
Other than public the major benefector is INSURANCE COMPANIES, they get the bumper profits when number of accidents go down.
Fiarness demands that Government and Municipalities should ask the Insurance Companies to reduce their premium and be contended with reasonable profits as public should also get relief of paying low permiums when they are subjected to very strict road side safety acts and bye-laws.