Ottawa's most prolific speed camera nets 10,000 violations in under 3 months
'It's the talk of the town these days in Barrhaven,' says a nearby businessman
Steady traffic puts pizzas in Hisham Kassis's oven and he doesn't like what the city is doing to slow it down.
"We used to have people come in, like truckers," said Kassis, who runs Barrhaven's San Marino Pizza. "Everybody's avoiding this now. Even customers, they're taking different routes."
He blames a ruthlessly effective speed camera just outside his restaurant on Cedarview Road. In little more than two months, it was responsible for nearly 10,000 tickets — by far the most in the city.
"It's the talk of the town these days in Barrhaven," he said.
The camera, right across from Cedarview Middle School, became active on Aug. 22. In the final 10 days of August, it recorded 2,925 infractions. Only two other cameras topped that count over the whole month.
In September, the Cedarview camera claimed the top spot with 4,434 tickets, almost double the nearest competitor. It was again first in October, with 2,586 violations.
According to the city, the camera has generated $650,030.50 in fines to date.
Kassis is hearing all about it from customers who've gotten two or three tickets in the mail. One said he will never venture onto that stretch of Cedarview again, according to Kassis.
Waseem Mansour is trying his best to avoid it, even though he lives two minutes away.
"I've found different ways to go around it," Mansour said. "I go different side streets around my area to avoid that one, or I'll take different main roads. So I'll go all the way up to Strandherd … just to avoid that one trap."
Mansour is also a father and said he understands why road safety is a priority so close to a middle school.
"I think it has made it a little bit safer," he said. "I mean, I've noticed some people fly down before they installed that speed camera, so it is safer, especially for the students, cause a lot of these kids walk to school."
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Theories abound for camera's commanding lead
The camera hasn't spared the congregation of Cedarview Alliance Church.
"The statistics are personal for a number of people here, for sure," said senior pastor Michael Linnen.
He figures Barrhaven's rapid growth is a major factor, as is the road design. Cedarview has a 40 km/h speed limit at the camera site, but with no homes fronting it, it feels like a high-speed artery.
"I think that this road has had a reputation in the past of people driving pretty quickly," he said. "It's a busy stretch of road. Barrhaven's growing like crazy."
He's also heard a persuasive theory from a parishioner who didn't think the signs alerting drivers to the camera are prominent enough.
"It's meagre. If it was bigger, a better warning for for drivers, people would actually slow down and then everybody wins," said Linnen. "The kids actually are safer, and that's the main thing."
Kassis has the same idea.
"They need more signs to warn the people, because everybody is hurting — tickets, tickets, tickets," he said.
Mansour also thinks the theory has merit, though he also blames a red light camera just to the north for hitting drivers with a double threat.
"It's tricky," he said. "If you hit that yellow light quickly, you want to try to get through it as fast as you can."
Cedarview is hardly unique on either score.
The speed camera at Fisher Avenue and Deer Park Road is also steps away from a red light camera. It has the same warning signs placed at a similar distance, yet its August-to-October ticket haul is lower by thousands.
The city said the placement of warning signs must adhere to the Highway Traffic Act. Krista Tanaka, the associate director of traffic services, said "many variables" can impact the number of charges a camera racks up, though she did not outline them specifically.
What about the prospect that a relatively new camera is catching drivers by surprise? Other cameras did rack up high numbers in their early months too, but none of the others installed in 2023 approached the Cedarview count.
Mansour said it's sad that so many people continue to speed past the school. Linnen suggests more traffic calming measures might be needed, in addition to the camera.
The city has no plans to install new traffic calming features at the spot, noting in an email that drivers are still adjusting their habits in response to the camera.
There's little doubt that the cameras work, in Tanaka's view. A pilot program provided "strong evidence" that the cameras substantially reduced speeds, she explained in an email, with an average 200 per cent increase in compliance with the speed limit at the sites.
Linnen has seen that with his own eyes.
"I definitely see people slow down," he said. "So I would say there's been a difference."
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