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“As I go door to door, the No. 1 issue continues to be traffic speed in residential neighbourhoods and traffic volume.”

A recent police enforcement blitz in the Ottawa school zones highlighted the problem, Watson said. That week-long safety campaign resulted in 540 driving infractions, including 358 charges for speeding and 59 for distracted driving. Three motorists were charged with stunt driving.

“This kind of behaviour has to be stopped,” he said, “and the best way to do it, quite frankly, is to hit drivers in the pocket book.”

To that end, Watson wants the city’s high-risk school zones to be designated as “community safety zones,” a designation under the Highway Traffic Act that allows for fines to be doubled.

The City of Ottawa now has 54 red-light cameras, which together generated more than $5 million last year in ticket revenue. (The fine is $260 plus a $5 service fee and $60 victim surcharge.)

According to city statistics, Ottawa has experienced a 50 per cent reduction in the number of right-angle collisions — the dangerous “t-bone collision” — since the introduction of red-light cameras, and a commensurate decrease in injuries.

The money generated by red-light cameras now goes into the city’s general revenue fund, but Watson wants to see it earmarked for new road-safety measures and police traffic enforcement.

Emile Therien, past president of the Canada Safety Council, welcomed Sunday’s announcement and its focus on technology such as red-light cameras and photo radar. “They’re much cheaper than policing, and they work — and nobody talks back to them,” he said.