Region of Waterloo considering processing centre for speeding tickets

As the Region of Waterloo attempts to slow drivers down with speed cameras, the tickets are expected to come in faster.

In June, regional council approved an expansion plan to implement Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) at up to 175 school zones by the end of 2028.

In a staff report from Tuesday’s Administration and Finance Committee meeting, staff projected each speed camera would issue around 5000 tickets per year. That means 875,000 tickets would need to be processed annually in five years.

Currently, the tickets that are issued by the two active cameras rotating around 16 different school zones are processed at a Joint Processing Centre (JPC) in Toronto. The JPC have already capped the processing at 70,000 tickets for Waterloo Region, as Toronto has contracts with several other municipalities to process their tickets. That means they will likely not be able to meet projected levels of infractions anticipated through the Region’s ASE program expansion.

Regional staff are recommending their own processing centre at 99 Regina Street in Waterloo, a regionally-owned building, to handle that expected increase in volume of speeding tickets.

That may sound costly, but it’s not when you factor in the revenue growth from such a rapid increase in ASE. The expansion of the ASE program, along with running a processing centre, would cost the Region of Waterloo $21 million to implement by 2028.

Councillor Pam Wolf told the horseshoe that despite a projected revenue of $42 million in the same timeframe, she’s worried that public backlash will lead the region toward making cuts to program.

“I’m concerned that we spend $20 million and we end up public outcry,” said Wolf. “I know we’re looking for safer streets, but we’ve put in 30 km/h zones, we’ve put in a lot of restrictions. I think people are going to have some difficulty following these.”

Staff and other councillors, including Sue Foxton, backed the processing centre saying that it’s not about the revenue, it’s about changing driver behaviour and protecting children.

“This is children. We’re not doing it to tax people because they are actually speeding, although we do want to, but we’re doing it to protect the kids,” said Foxton. “So if we don’t act, I’m sorry, but shame on us.”

Mathieu Goetzke, commissioner of Transportation Services said that the revenue will be used in two different ways after covering the annual operating costs the program.

“The main one is putting it in a [Contribution to Road Safety] reserve fund that will help us continue to run the system as behaviour’s change. The objective here is that people drive slower, and that we receive less revenue in the long term because drivers’ behaviour changes. So we’re preparing for that by holding that reserve.”

Goetzke also didn’t rule out the possibility that the region’s processing centre becoming a JPC down the road once it is operating efficiently.