Anyone who follows the news, such as you fine readers, or follows local politics will know that one of the most common issues brought to municipal council is speeding on local roadways.
My latest exposure to this problem came on Sept. 5 in Morris-Turnberry, where Coun. Sharen Zinn brought the issue up after council members received an email from a concerned resident.
As it was stated by multiple people that night, enforcement is the biggest hurdle to overcome. If you want more officers around to enforce if, you have to pay more as a municipality.
And for taxpayers, already feeling they pay too much for policing, paying more would be a tough pill to swallow.
Adding signage to alert drivers to the speed limit is only so effective – post too many signs, and people begin to ignore them.
And asking for Officer Wes Coast – the life-sized cut-out of a police officer holding a speed enforcement device – to “patrol” the area has already been done. He is also a very busy officer, who has been known to “disappear” from his post at times (like when he was stolen from his post in Hensall last year).
Another idea that was mentioned was the “speed spy” – the traffic data collection device used by roads departments to gather information on vehicle speeds and frequency of use.
But as Morris-Turnberry’s director of public works, Mike Alcock, said that night, “It will confirm what we already know.”
As I was driving to an assignment on Monday night, an idea came to me as a vehicle went flying by me on the road well over 100 km/h.
Why don’t we tweak an already existing piece of technology to enforce speed limits?
Instead of red light cameras, what about speed enforcement cameras?
I am no technical wizard (despite me being our office’s go-to person for all things IT-related), so bear with me for a minute.
These red light cameras have the ability to recognize when someone drives through a red light, and authorities are able to identify the driver and issue a ticket within 30 days of the incident.
We also know that there is technology out there that can identify how fast an object is travelling.
Why not combine the two pieces of technology into one, and have these devices installed on troublesome roadways throughout the province?
Sure, there would be a cost attached to them, but it would be a one-time cost. And the device, once built, could be manufactured en masse to ensure that any and all municipalities who wanted one (or seven) of them could get their hands on them.
We have come to accept that a camera can issue us a traffic ticket for an illegal move on a red light, so why not a speeding ticket?
During a time where seemingly every industry and profession is short of qualified people (or people willing to work for what an employer is offering to pay), maybe technology is the answer we’re looking for.
It could also free up local police to focus more of their efforts on other areas of their job, such as theft and abuse cases.
While this idea sounds good on paper, it will likely remain just that – an idea.
Coun. Allan Rothwell of North Perth had the municipal world talking earlier this year when his motion to have all school bus stop arms in the province equipped with cameras was supported virtually everywhere. But unfortunately, to my knowledge, that’s as far as it got.
Maybe, just maybe, if a certain provincial leader had a buddy or pal who built and sold this type of technology, it would be installed by now…
With that said, if you know of said person, send them my way. They can have the speed camera idea, I just want my cut on the deal.
Ten per cent would be fair, right buddy?
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Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. He sometimes has good ideas, although probably doesn’t have the right connections (or knowledge or money) to make them a reality. Comments and feedback are welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
