The Town of Aurora is exploring an automated speed enforcement pilot program, as well as adding more community safety zone designations outside schools.
Council gave initial approval to a plan that would would designate town road with schools on them as community safety zones, and set up a two-year automated speed enforcement pilot, during its committee of the whole meeting Oct. 1.
“What I heard in the last election, before anything about taxes, was the speed of the cars in the neighbourhoods,” said Councillor Wendy Gaertner. “So, I think this is an important safety measure.”
Currently, the town has four community safety zones, which are designated stretches of road that allow for the doubling of fines if road users are caught speeding.
The four zones are located at:
- Orchard Heights Boulevard: from Laurentide Avenue to Yonge Street
- McClellan Way: from Henderson Drive to Bathurst Street
- Murray Drive: from Wellington Street West to Kennedy Street West
- Stone Road: from Bayview Avenue (north leg) to Bayview Avenue (south leg).
Adding schools that front onto town roads would bring the total number of community safety zones managed by the town to 17.
York Region piloted a two-year, automated speed enforcement (ASE) pilot program from 2021 to 2023, during which the region saw a 35 per cent uptick in drivers following speed limits, with average speeds dropping by 9 km/h, according to a town staff report.
The majority of York Region municipalities are in the process of developing their own speed enforcement programs, with the Town of Newmarket installing its first automated speed cameras last month.
Ultimately, council, sitting as committee of the whole, gave initial approval to the plans.
Staff were also directed to prepare an implementation plan for a two-year automated speed enforcement pilot, the details of which will come back to council.
