Out-of-province scofflaws still safely outside Ottawa's red light reach

The City of Ottawa is missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential revenue because it still doesn'thave a process in place for pursuing out-of-province drivers who run red lightsdespite being given the power to do so by the Ontario government more than six months ago.

In the first quarter of 2016, the city issued 5,266 violations to driverscaught in the act by the city's red light cameras, and estimates it could have handed out another 1,241 to owners of vehicles without-of-province plates.

The ticketfor running a red light comes with a $260 fine, a $5 service fee and a $60 victim surcharge, according to the city.The city has estimatedout-of-province fines could be worth$500,000 a year.

Yet despite being granted the power to pursue out-of-province scofflaws on January 1, the city says it's still developing a process with the Quebec government to track drivers using thatprovince'sdigital database.

Fines to be issued once agreement reached

"Once this process and agreement are in place the violations will be mailed to the registered ownersof the vehicles similar to the process for Ontario plated vehicles," said PhilLandry, the city'smanager oftraffic services, in a written statement.

It's not clear whether those fines will be issued retroactively, or will only apply to out-of-province drivers caught after an agreement with Quebec is reached.

In 2015 Ottawa's red light cameras snapped pictures of17,658 vehicles with Ontario plates, plus an estimated 4,900 sporting out-of-province tags.

Before the change in Ontario law, the city collected about $12 million a year from provincial fines, including $3.9 million from redlight runners.