Twenty mayors, a vicealcalde and a County Director of the municipalities of all Ontario urge Prime Minister Doug Ford and the Minister of Transportation, in a signed letter, to compromise the measures of application of automated speed (ASE) in school zones, instead of issuing a prohibition of the province.
If a prohibition is established, the 22 municipal leaders of BRAMPTON A AJAX to Parry Sound requested that the province “completely reimburse all municipalities for costs” to cancel the ASE program.
They said in a shared letter on social networks on Friday that refund would cover the costs to increase local surveillance, staff compensation and public security programs that are currently financed by income from speed cameras.
“For most of us, intention has always been to install cameras in school zones to protect our most vulnerable residents, our children,” says the leaders’ letter.
“A total prohibition of Ase would reverse years of progress in security in school zones. It would present more pressure on the police, increase compliance costs and, most critical, would endanger lives,” he says.
Letters lists are committed to municipalities are willing to do to maintain ASE measures in school zones, including the following:
- Warning tickets for a crime for the first time.
- Establish cameras to a reasonable speed threshold before a ticket is emitted.
- The cameras only operate during the times of school and community use.
- Turn off in additional fines for seven days after a driver receives the first ticket to allow them to change their behavior.
The leaders said that the rates collected from fines for speeding would be directed to traffic calm measures, such as speed signs and roundabouts, something that “many municipalities already do.”
The Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, says that his government will introduce legislation to prohibit speed cameras, instead of establishing a provincial fund to help the municipalities implemented other “proactive traffic rating initiatives.”
Last week, Ford said his government will soon make legislation to prohibit the use of speed cameras, a traffic application tool that has called an “ineffective tax capture.
Ford has affirmed that speed cameras do not slow down people, and has said that the province plans to establish a new fund to help the municipalities implemented other “proactive traffic rating initiatives that prevent people from accelerating in the first place.” That includes speed potholes, roundabouts, high pedestrian crossings and edges.
It was the Ford government that approved the regulations in 2019 that allowed the municipalities to execute speed application programs.
A new study by the Sickkids hospital shows that speed cameras make the streets safer for children. The chief of orthopedic surgery of the hospital, Andrew Howard, spoke with the morning of the CBC subway about the study findings and how they can improve the safety of children.
Contrary to Ford’s claims that the speed cameras are ineffective, a study by July 2025 of the Sickkid Hospital and the Metropolitan University of Toronto found that the cameras to be led to a 45 percent reduction in the speed vehicles in 250 school zones.
“These are not just statistics: they represent less injuries, less deaths and greater peace of mind for parents and communities,” said the 22 municipal leaders, adding that there is support for the cameras of the Ontario Traffic Council and the Ontario Police Chief Association.
The letter also mentioned a survey by Caa South Central Ontario that found “almost three quarters of support for Ontario Ase drivers” in specific areas, including nearby schools and community centers.
Some municipalities, such as Brampton and Toronto, have voted to continue their ASE program in front of Ford’s objection, but others, such as Vaughan, decided to eliminate municipal chambers, opting instead to focus on “traffic qualification measures.”
Vaughan launched his ASE program in April 2025, but stopped him in June after drivers accumulated more than 30,000 tickets in three weeks.
Meanwhile, Toronto has struggled to keep his speed cameras after 47 cameras have been destroyed in less than a year.
