Sarnia city councillors George Vandenberg and Bill Dennis are on a mission to crack down on speeders.
City council endorsed their pitch on Monday, which will see staff investigate using photo radar to enforce speed limits in school safety zones and other community zones.
"When we look at arterial streets like Indian Road, Michigan and Murphy Road, the average speed limit is supposed to be 50 kilometers, and the average [motorist] going by is doing 75 to 80 kilometers per hour," said Vandenberg. "I see the tickets coming across my desk and I know what they are, we've got people racing from red light to red light."
Vandenberg, a paralegal and former Sarnia police detective, said paying a fine is enough for most people to change their habits.
"Let's say we set our photo radar at exactly one kilometer over, so it's 51 km/h, you are going to pay $21. At 15 km/h you're going to pay $115 and at 50 km/h the fine is $1105. So it's going to impact that person's pocketbook."
Companies could submit proposals for the service -- including everything from installing the cameras, to issuing tickets, to collecting fines -- and the city could generate revenue from getting a cut of the payments.
"If you get a photo radar ticket, or photo red light ticket in Ontario, there's no points associated with that ticket," he said. "It doesn't go on your driving record. It doesn't affect your insurance. It only affects whoever the owner of the car is. He or she will get the ticket, but there's no outside implications other than financial."
Vandenberg thinks the automated speed enforcement is worth a try.
"We don't want to have any more incidents like we had at Murphy and Cathcart a few years ago where a little girl got killed. We want to see safe streets."
Councillor Bill Dennis, who would like to see speed limits in school zones reduced as well, agrees that it comes down to safety.
"Probably one of the most things I get complaints about from citizens, is speeding in residential neighbourhoods," said Dennis. "I use Rapids [Parkway] as an example, because there's lots of young families there. People go for walks with their young children, walking dogs, and we're encouraging people to be more environmentally friendly by bicycling and people are whipping by there."
Dennis said Sarnia can learn from other communities.
"They're doing it in London, they're doing it in Ottawa. We're going to have a study and rely on the expertise of staff of course, and the Sarnia police force, they're the experts, but I can't live with myself if something were to happen and I had an opportunity to maybe stop it from happening."
Staff will report their findings at a future meeting.