Brampton's Speed Camera WAR: Are They Helping or Hurting? (Petition to REMOVE Cameras!)
Yo, Brampton drivers, let’s talk speed cameras! Does Brampton have way too many? I saw this petition to get rid of them or reduce the number across the city. For those who don’t know, Brampton has a bit of a reputation when it comes to driving. Super aggressive driving. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but yeah, it is kind of bad driving. People are running red lights left and right. Insurance rates are the highest in the province here. A lot of scammers, hit and runs, and not-so-nice things.
So, to curb some of this, what we’ve seen in the last few years is the city has gone all in on speed cameras. They used to put these little cameras on the ground, and they used to get spray painted all the time. Now, they put them up on poles, so you can’t really get to them. A lot of times, you forget they’re even there until 30 days after you commit your speeding infraction, and you get a letter in the mail for $100 to $200 saying, “Buddy, we got you. You owe us some money.”
Look, as someone who doesn’t consider myself a perpetually fast driver, I do think I tend to lose focus on the exact speed I’m going sometimes because I’m just following the flow of traffic, or maybe my foot gets a little heavy. I’ve gotten my share of these traffic tickets, man. The worst was when I got one day after day after day for a week because I didn’t know they put up a camera in this certain spot. I was like, “Dude, I’m going to get one for every single day this month if this is what’s going on.” Luckily, it stopped at around six.
I’ve paid my share to these cameras, but they do help. I will say they do help because what they made me do was reset my car so that it beeps at me when I’m going over the speed limit. I started using Waze to know where these speeding cameras are, and even that beeps at me when I go faster. The whole point of these speeding cameras, and the whole point of tickets in general, is to change behavior. And it’s changed my behavior. I now barely go five over. Sometimes I’m going ten under because I do not have any more money to pay these things.
But there’s a petition! People are mad. They’re like, “Listen, these speeding cameras disproportionately hurt low-income families just trying to get to work.” To that, I say stop the cap. It hurts a disproportionate number of people who do not follow traffic signs or speeding regulations. It hurts a disproportionate number of people who don’t give a about driving standards. For that reason, I think we got to keep them.
Yeah, they’re annoying. Yeah, it sucks when you get a letter in the mail. But guess what? If you are low-income and you can’t afford the ticket, you could appeal it. By appealing it, you can say, “Hey, I can’t afford this ticket this month,” and they’ll say, “Hey, here’s a payment plan,” or, “Hey, we’re going to reduce the fee.” You could do that. Keep the speeding cameras. I don’t like them. I don’t like that I get tickets from them, but I do think they’re helping because I have noticed that everyone in my area is driving a little bit slower, which I appreciate. I can accept that. And when I do see someone speeding, I’m like, “Haha, buddy, you’re about to get a ticket!”
Anyways, man, I’m curious what you guys think. Have you noticed a change in people’s driving behavior because of these speed cameras? Do you want to keep them, or do you want to get rid of them? Do you agree with this petition? Do you think they’re disproportionately affecting brown millionaires in Castlemore? Y’all take it easy till the next one. Peace.
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