Three red light cameras in Cambridge racked up more than 1,300 charges and generated close to $375,000 in revenue for the Region of Waterloo last year.
The latest figures from the region's Red Light Camera (RLC) program come as the region's traffic engineers prepare to review how to best determine if an intersection warrants the technology while exploring other ways to mitigate red-light running in addition to collision history.
The region's program has been operating since 2000 and was implemented to reduce the number of collisions at signalized intersections caused by vehicles running red lights.
Camera locations in Cambridge have been active since 2017.
The following chart outlines the number of offences issued at each of the RLC locations in Cambridge for the past three years, as well as the total revenue collected for certificates of offence for each camera location.
Each offence caught on camera is ticketed to the owner of the vehicle and the fine, set under the Provincial Offences Act, hasn't changed from $325 since it was implemented in 2000.
It includes a $260 set fine, a $60 victim surcharge fee and a court cost of $5.
The victim surcharge component is remitted to the Ministry of the Attorney General to fund programs that assist victims of crime.
Operational costs for the region's 15 red light cameras worked out to about $25,000 per camera in 2023.
In 2021, it cost $420,434 to run the RLC program, $373,875 in 2022 and $372,968 last year.
Other operational costs, such as court administration and staffing costs, are not included.
A company headquartered in Germany called Jenoptik installs and maintains the cameras for the region.
When the cameras record an offence, the image is sent to the Toronto Joint Processing Centre for review by a Provincial Offences Officer. The offence notice is generated and served by mail to the vehicle plate owner by JPC on behalf of the region.
Provincial guidelines also outline that each signalized intersection with a RLC must have a 60 x 90 sign with the RLC icon and a smaller 60 x 30 “Red Light Camera” sign fixed below.
The signs are required to be posted approximately 120 meters from the intersection as you are approaching the camera.
The region says it receives inquiries and requests from the public to add additional RLCs annually and will consider installing them at locations with documented collision history related to red-light running.
A review the RLC warrant process is in the works and will include an exploration of other mitigation factors in addition to collision history.
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