Although vandals put two speed-trap cameras out of commission this week, City of Greater Sudbury staff expect them to be back online within days.
Repairs were underway when Sudbury.com connected with city Linear Infrastructure Services director Joe Rocca on Wednesday afternoon.
“The vendor is ready for this stuff,” he said. “We were talking with them this morning, and it’s not unusual what we’re experiencing. It’s the same thing they’re seeing in every municipality as they roll these out.”
The vendor and other municipalities have reported that vandalization starts off hot and cools off over time, though it might pick up again every four months when the city relocates the mobile cameras to different stretches of road where speeding vehicles have been a problem.
Numerous speed-trap cameras have been vandalized with spray paint, eggs, and been taped over with black garbage bags, while two have been damaged.
Through all this, Greater Sudbury Police Service received one report of a crime in progress.
At approximately 11:50 p.m. on March 29, a motorist on Falconbridge Road reported seeing someone with an ATV tying a strap around the camera, media spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn told Sudbury.com.
Police arrived five minutes later to see the camera pulled off its base.
The ATV was described as light in colour, and the driver was wearing a helmet at the time the witness drove past.
The spokesperson said any damage to cameras should be reported to the City of Greater Sudbury by phoning 311, and that crimes in progress can be called in to police.
Vandals could face a charge of Mischief Under $5,000 (or over $5,000, depending on the amount of damage), and could face penalties ranging from restitution to jail time.
Repairs are baked into the vendor’s contract with the city, and Rocca said they’ve been quick to clean and repair them whenever necessary.
There is no threshold at which the city begins paying to get units cleaned and repaired.
“If the units continue to be vandalized we will continue to get them repaired,” Rocca said. “Vandalization isn’t going to deter us from using this program and this effective tool to make our community safer.”
(Every study Sudbury.com could find indicated that automated speed-enforcement cameras are effective at slowing down motorists and therefore make roads safer.)
The city’s contract with the vendor, Redflex, is for six years and part of a joint procurement headed by the City of Toronto and includes municipalities throughout the province.
When it comes time for renewal, whatever rate the City of Greater Sudbury receives will be the same as other Ontario municipalities, and Rocca noted they’re all reporting issues with vandalization.
The speed-enforcement cameras have been collecting data on vehicle speeds, which Rocca said the city would be releasing within the next several days to show how effective they have been. They will not yet have data on how many infractions were issued.
The city’s six speed-enforcement cameras have been active since March 22, and will be relocated every four months.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.