Red light cameras coming to 6 intersections in Greater Sudbury

Red light cameras are coming to Greater Sudbury.

The technology has been used in other Ontario municipalities to help reduce collisions and fine offenders, but this will be the first time for the northern city.

Council approved the decision Tuesday night to have the special cameras set up at six intersections.

"We have an epidemic of people running red lights in Sudbury, so these lights are going to be very beneficial, making our intersections safe," said Coun.Robert Kirwan.

A radar detector recognizes when a vehicle is moving through an intersection on a red lightand takes a picture of the rear of the vehicle.

A $325 ticket is then sent to the vehicle's owner. Because the driver can't be seen in the photo, there are no demerit point penalties.

8 sites prioritized, 6 to be chosen

Based on collision data, the city has prioritized eight intersections for the cameras:

1. Paris Street at Cedar Street.
2. Regent Street at Loach's Road/Algonquin Road.
3. Municipal Road 80 at Dominion Drive.
4. Lasalle Boulevard at Montrose Avenue.
5. Paris Street at Centennial Drive.
6. Barry Downe Road at Hawthorne Drive.
7. Paris Street at Walford Road.
8. Lasalle Boulevard at Roy Avenue.

Joe Rocca, Sudbury's traffic and asset management supervisor, saidthey'll work with the camera vendor (Traffipax LLC) to determine if the technology would physically work at certain intersections.

"We will work in the order of the list starting with Paris Street [at Cedar]; it being the highest priority and Lasalle Boulevard at Roy being the lowest priority," he said.

"We'll do six systems, hopefully the top six, but if we need to move to No.7and 8, then we will do that."

Rocca saidthe technology is meant to reduce collisions, but there are other benefits.

"By installing red light cameras at one location, what you tend to see is better compliance at nearby locations as well.

"When you look at the list of locations we've identified, you'll see we've made a conscious effort to try to pick different areas of community to install these to get that maximum impact of reducing collisions throughout the community," Roccaadded.

The first red light camera will be installed this fall;the remaining five will be set up in the spring.

Emergency vehicles running red lights

During the council meeting, there was also discussion about what might happen ifemergency vehicles, such as an ambulance,run a red lightin camera-installed areas.

Coun.Ren Lapierre told council he "did that job for 24 years," referring to his career as a paramedic and operating an ambulance during emergency calls.As an example, he described a scenario with no other traffic around at a well-known intersection in Hanmer, where line of sight is clear up to 500 metres.

"And I have somebody that I'm doing CPR on in the back [of the ambulance], I can tell you they're not stopping. They will go through that red light.

"That cannot be a discipline," Lapierre said.

Joseph Nicholls, chief of fire and paramedic services, said thatwhen there are driving complaints or breaches of the Highway Traffic Act against a city employee, an investigation is done.

"Then certainly we would look at mitigating factors and make a determination of whether those mitigating factors justified whatever the breach would be," he said.

Although Nicholls admittedthey don't have experience with red light cameras, the same sort of measure would be applied.

"Driving through a red light at an intersection carries with it a significant risk when you have opposing traffic coming at right angles, and so it's not something that we take lightly."