All speed cameras in Barrie will be coming to an end by Dec. 31, 2025, after city council voted to phase out automated speed enforcement (ASE) unless the Ontario government steps in.
The decision follows comments from Premier Doug Ford, who recently said he opposes speed cameras and promised that his government would eliminate them province-wide if municipalities do not.
Instead, Barrie will focus on red-light cameras, which automatically photograph vehicles entering intersections on a red. Tickets are issued to the vehicle owner. ASE cameras, by contrast, use radar and cameras to catch vehicles exceeding posted limits in school or community safety zones.
Mayor Alex Nuttall said he hopes the removal of speed cameras will be permanent.
“I pray no government is going to bring them back if we are going to do away with them,” he said.
“If we had known there was going to be an issue with these cameras, we would have just gone with other traffic-calming measures instead. This is over, this is done — the premier has made this clear.”
Coun. Jim Harris suggested if the Ontario government will help with funding, the city could look at ways to tie red-light cameras to traffic-calming strategies, particularly near schools.
“Appreciating that they are going to invest in other methods to calm traffic and knowing we have had an expression of interest in red-light cameras, I wonder if there is a strategy or opportunity to tie the red-light cameras to areas,” he said.
Harris pointed to the intersection of Bayview Drive and Little Avenue, near Allandale Secondary School, as a location where a red-light camera could be more effective than a speed camera.
Other municipalities are following a similar path. Vaughan’s mayor, Steven Del Duca, recently announced his city will also remove all speed cameras.
