The city is proposing to add two new photo-radar cameras to Hamilton streets, doubling the number of automated eyes on local speeders.
The proposal is in a report going to councillors Tuesday, alongside a request for six new hires to oversee traffic enforcement programs and handle a growing number of resident requests for road safety improvements.
Hamilton introduced its first two automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras in 2020 and has since rotated them through dozens of school and “community safety zones,” streets identified as higher-risk for vulnerable road users.
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Hamilton is looking at adding new photo-radar cameras.
Barry Gray
Adding two extra photo-radar cameras is recommended due to the “high volume” of speeding complaints fielded by city road safety officials, according to the report, which also notes speeding and aggressive driving routinely factor into half of all annual collisions in the city. It might also result in 20,000 extra tickets being mailed to speeders nabbed on camera.
Last year, council had already approved a plan to rotate existing cameras through 24 different streets in 2024 and 2025. If council signs off on buying extra cameras — a final vote won’t come until next week — staff would report back with recommended new enforcement locations based on factors like collision statistics and speeding complaints.
Adding the new technology would cost around $580,000 annually, the report suggests, with the nearly $2.2-million cost to buy and run cameras as well as process tickets offset by fine revenue of around $1.6 million. Staff propose using a reserve funded by red-light tickets to cover both the cost of the new cameras as well as $665,000 for new road safety staff.
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The fine revenue estimate is based on 20,000 tickets and an average speeding ticket of $80, although ticket amounts and numbers can vary.
That example prompted some critics to call the program a cash grab. But most enforcement locations have resulted in far fewer tickets and the city report says, so far, fine revenue does not cover annual program expenses.
New hires pitched in the report would handle everything from administering enforcement programs, which includes 50-plus red-light cameras as well as photo-radar, as well as handling an estimated 2,000-plus community requests for road safety improvements.
Such requests were already on the rise even before a spike in pedestrian deaths in 2022 that prompted council to vote to convert Main Street to two-way traffic and fast-track safety improvements at several collision-prone intersections.
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