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“We want to make sure that in and around school areas, when kids are dashing back and forth, that people are not speeding, going 60 or 70 km/h, because we know when they’re going at that speed there’s a very good chance that kids are going to get killed,” Watson said.

Watson said Tuesday he doesn’t expect speed cameras to become part of the standard traffic-enforcement kit around schools, but the city will probably install them in spots notorious for speeding and dangerous driving. He compared them to red-light cameras: Ottawa has about 40 of them and 15 more to be installed next year, but not at every intersection with traffic lights.

“I met a gentleman just a week ago on the main floor of City Hall. He’d just gotten a red-light ticket and he said, ‘Thanks a lot for your red-light camera,’ and he wasn’t too happy. But he also said to me, ‘You know what, I’m not going to do this again’, because it was $375,” Watson said.

The mayor’s also pleased that it will be easier to reduce speed limits in particular neighbourhoods. In places with no signs, the default speed limit is 50 km/h. The city can set it lower but that means installing signs at every intersection reminding drivers, and each one costs about $250. That adds up fast in a city where each ward’s annual budget for all its traffic-calming measures is $40,000. Wynne’s promise is to allow cities to designate areas with lower default speed limits, marked by fewer signs.

Lower speed limits aren’t magic: drivers tend to drive as fast as they feel safe driving, so the designs of streets matter more than anything else. But knowing the odds are a lot higher — possibly 100 per cent — that they’ll get caught if they speed will influence driver behaviour.

Don’t expect photo radar on Ottawa’s streets by Christmas. The provincial bill has to get through the legislature, which typically takes months, and then city council will have to decide how to use its new authority.

dreevely@postmedia.com

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