The topic came up during a public meeting in Dartmouth, N.S., on Thursday, where residents spoke out over excessive speeding on Waverley Road.
“In the past month, I’ve had three near-misses where I’ve almost been hit on the sidewalk walking my dog and carrying my four-and-a-half-month-old son,” says one resident.
Dartmouth East Coun. Tony Mancini says it was just one of many concerns and complaints people living in the area have made about speeding.
“I don’t support speed cameras. I don’t find that there’s any evidence they actually change driver behaviour. This is particularly because the tickets aren’t delivered to people until sometimes months after the incident occurred. And in order for an intervention to change behaviour, it’s more effective when it happens immediately when somebody is pulled over,” says Kyla Lee, a Vancouver-based criminal lawyer.
“Clear, consistent, visible enforcement by police officers on the ground has been the thing that has consistently, time and time again, shown to decrease speeding and other bad driving behaviour. If people have a perception they will get caught and that there are consequences associated with being caught, they’re less likely to engage in that type of driving behaviour.”
