Could photo radar help solve speeding on Red Hill and Linc?

After one long-term estimate came in at more than $10 million for making Hamilton's Red Hill Valley and Lincoln M. Alexander parkways safer, Coun. Sam Merulla has an idea for a cheaper option: Install photo radar.

Merulla will ask his colleagues on the Public Works committee on Monday to direct staff to explore the idea on the parkways. 

Hamilton Police say enforcement will be pricey, so Merulla says they should consider installing photo radar to help enforce the speed limit. Other cities have implemented photo radar to "successfully alter driver behaviour and increase public safety with no financial impact," and Hamilton should too, he said. 

Photo radar, where a speeding car is photographed and the owner sent a photo and a ticket in the mail, has a political and controversial history in Ontario. Critics say it's a money grab by governments. Former premier Mike Harris campaigned on a promise to kill the program after it had been implemented in the mid-1990s.  

Merulla asked for a safety review of the two parkways earlier this year after two 19-year-olds — Jordyn Hastings and Olivia Smosarski — died in a crash on the Red Hill in May. They were in a Mazda that crossed a median and hit a van driven by a 28-year-old woman, who walked away with minor injuries.

In one day in October, police dealt with 10 reported collisions on the Red Hill alone.

• Spend $810K in the short term to make Red Hill and Linc safer: staff
• It will cost $10M to make the Red Hill and Linc safer, report says
• Could the Red Hill Valley Parkway be safer?
• Red Hill collisions: Bad road or bad drivers?

City staff have found that more than 500 vehicles per day drive faster than 140 km/h on the Red Hill Valley Parkway, when the roads are designed for no more than 110 km/h. If drivers were seen doing those higher speeds by police, some could be charged with "stunt driving" and lose their vehicle and license, city staff conclude. It's unclear if the penalties would be quite so high if the enforcement was conducted by photo radar.

City staff suggest about $800,000 worth of short-term aids like rumble strips and "slippery when wet" signs to make the roads safer. But they also want council to ask Hamilton Police to step up the enforcement on the parkways. Police have had a special enforcement campaign on the Red Hill since Oct. 1 called Project Slide.