Do you support the removal of speed cameras?
Doug Ford and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives legislated the removal of the speed cameras in Ontario. His reasoning; they were a tax grab by municipalities. Municipalities, school boards and parents said they were necessary for protection and safety of school children.
Who should be responsible for a child’s safety?
Who is responsible for the safety of a child? Complicated question with different answers depending on the age of the child. Young children need the protection of their parents, teachers and the community because they haven’t developed the skills necessary to stay safe. Leaning to protect yourself and others is part of learning to be a better member of society.
I believe parents and our education system have grossly failed to educate our children by consistently placing blame on other people instead of teaching kids how to stay safe and look after themselves. Unless you’re a senior citizen you likely wont remember the days of Elmer the Safety Elephant. I remember the school days in Preston Ontario when then corporal Frank Hewer and the mascot Elmer the Safety Elephant would appear in the school gymnasium and before an assembly of students would drill road safety into our heads. Look both ways. Don’t chase your ball out on the road. Always cross at an intersection, never between parked cars. Always signal when riding your bike and ride in single file.
We never had adult crossing guards. That was a honour and a privilege reserved for grade eight students. They were given reflective flashes to wear, assigned a post and were taught how to help their fellow students safely cross the street. If you didn’t listen to them you could be reported. It taught these grade eight students something about duty and responsibility.
Yes there is more traffic today but that doesn’t mean the older students shouldn’t be given more responsibility and along with it instruction on how to be a good citizen in today’s world.
If we don’t teach them when they are young how are they expected to make the right decisions and be safe when they are a little older? There won’t be somebody there to look out for them.
Inconsistency leads to driver confusion.
Do you know what the speed limit is in a school zone? Here in Cambridge Ontario the speed limit in a school zone is 40 km/h yet in our neighbouring city of Kitchener the speed limit in a school zone is a mere 30 km/h. The reduced speed in some areas is only applicable during school hours while other zones are enforced 24/7. This inconsistency only leaves drivers confused on what is the right course of action. Would it not make sense for the province to legislate what the speed limit is in a school zone and at what time of day and day of the week it is applicable? And, for that matter define what constitutes a school zone. Then, drivers could not say they didn’t know.
Yes it is a tax grab!
Doug Ford has called it a tax grab. Mayors and councils have said it’s not about the money, but about child safety.
If it’s not a tax grab and about the money why has Olivia Chow, mayor of the city of Toronto, said a thousand jobs are in jeopardy because of the cancelling of the speed cameras?
What is the answer…where do we go from here?
Premiere Ford’s opinion of traffic signs and flashing lights slowing down traffic makes me wonder what he has been smoking,
My thoughts.
First, we need to teach children responsibility, not just about rights. Your safety is first and foremost your responsibility. You need to know how to be safe in the world we live in. This has to be the job of both parents and the education system.
Who do we entrust with keeping us safe in the community; the police? Are they doing their job? In Waterloo Region the answer is a definite NO. A recent article in the “The Record” stated:
Waterloo Region ranked among the top five worst in the province for crime severity, clearance rates, and firearm violations, according to 2024 data from Statistics Canada.
The budget for the waterloo Regional Police Service keeps going up but the service goes down. They are like a bag of chips. It looks the same n the outside but when you get into the bag there s less of what you paid for and a lot more of empty air. Instead of speed cameras, cops with radar would be more effective. To begin with they can change locations so you never know what school district they might be in. You best behave in all of them. When they do nab a speeder they can be checking to make sure the driver is both licensed and insured. They might even get lucky and actually stop someone wanted on a warrant.
In 1967 our family visited friends in Anaheim California. I was curious about “gullies” in the road at a number of intersections. They were approximately 8 inches deep and at least 24 inches across. Our host Ken explained to me that they were there to slow drivers down. The had had a problem with crashes a intersections largely due to speed. These “gullies” were designed so a vehicle doing a proper speed would pass through with hardly noticing any issue, while a vehicle like a car going to fast could actually bottom out on the gully. The result was people slowed down. The gullies were much more noticeable and problematic than the traditional speed bump.
If municipalities are correct and it is not about the money speed cameras generate then why bother collecting funds at all for speed violations. Why not be like the stunt driving offence and and say that violators speeding in a school zone will have there vehicle seized on the spot for 10 days?
Let’s begin by getting to the real source if the issue.What is the objective; to increase revenue for the various levels of government or to make roadways safer for children in school districts. Now let’s solve the real problem and be honest about our objective.
Leave a comment. What are your thoughts?
