Paralegal says red light cameras don't do much to deter drivers

AsWindsor's city council waits for administration's report on the logistics of installing red light cameras in the city, a paralegal and former police officer saythey don't think cameras would do much good to deter offenders.

Walter Martin, who defends about 250 red light tickets each year, said drivers don't get demerit points with red light camera tickets, nor are their insurance companies notified.

"Toronto uses them a lot. There's a lot of tickets issued but as long as the driver is willing to pay the fine, that's the end of it," said Martin. Each ticket is a $325 fine.

Martin said it's more effective to have a larger traffic unit with the police force instead.

Are red light cameras useful?

6 years ago

Duration 1:53

A dash cam catches a couple of red light runners and drivers give their thoughts on whether the city should have cameras.

It was Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante who raised the idea of installing red light cameras and photo radars at the last council meeting. He said speed has been an issue brought forward by his constituents.

"It's being done in other municipalities so I just want to get a comparative study, look at the costs, and look at how effective these pieces of technology are," he said on Monday.

One of those municipalities is London. The city has 10 red light cameras, installed at intersections which have had the highest number of right-angle collisions based on historical data.

The worst intersection in London saw upwards of 802 red light camera tickets issued in 2018 by the end of October.

Some drivers in Windsor are in favour of having them installed.

"I had a very close friend of mine that was in a very serious accident because a fellow turned left into a red light," said Frank Duransky.

Another driver saidshe regularly sees distracted drivers on the road.

"Red lights they go through, stop signs they drive right through, they're busy on their phones," said Sheila Naccarato.

According to Martin, because the City of Windsor wouldn't be able to afford to put cameras at all intersections, once drivers know where they are, they will be just as careless as they were before.