Penalties for running red lights should be substantially increased, says a staff report to Toronto council that also outlines plans to quadruple the number of such cameras in the city, to 98 by the end of 2009.

While the report is silent on how much penalties should rise, Councillor Michael Thompson, whose motion triggered it, is not. He wants the penalty boosted to $500.

"The $180 right now is simply too low," he told the Star. "People don't pay much attention. It's the cost of dinner for two and a night out in Toronto; we need to change that."

He also wants running a red to cost drivers six demerit points, not the current three. Points can only be assessed by police at the scene.

Thompson started pushing for tougher penalties after a red-light runner triggered a crash in his Scarborough Centre ward last July that killed a young mother waiting at a bus shelter and hurt eight others.

The city report says more than 74,000 charges have been laid since red-light cameras were introduced in November 2000, while police on the ground have laid 91,000 more.


Transportation Minister Jim Bradley's office declined to comment on the issue because it's not yet city policy. It goes before the works committee Wednesday.

But the city also approved plans to expand the number of cameras operating from 20 to 98 by 2009, generating 65,300 in annual fines. If fines were kept at $180 per ticket, the city would generate $11.8 million in annual revenue but end up with a net loss after paying private companies to operate the safety program, according to Gary Welsh, Toronto's General Manager of Transportation Services. By 2012, Welsh estimated the loss at $2,497,900 per year in a memo to the committee.

The plan to expand the number of monitored intersections within a short period is the primary cause of the potential revenue loss. Toronto had already paid for the cameras used by ACS to ticket motorists since 2000. For that reason, the city will only pay the Dallas company $3,774,400 to issue tickets on Toronto's behalf until 2012. German company Traffipax, however, must charge $15,137,900 to supply and operate new cameras through 2012.

By raising fines to $500, the city is expected to bring in $32.7 million in annual revenue and a total of $100 million worth of tickets by 2012, guaranteeing a significant net profit. The city also is looking at the possibility of suspending vehicle registrations for vehicles accused of "multiple" red light camera violations and publishing the license plate numbers of anyone accused by a camera. If approved by the full city council, the Ontario Minister of Transportation would review and implement the new penalties.

Illinois currently has the most expensive photo enforcement ticket with a $1000 fine and mandatory license suspension imposed for a second speeding accusation. Last year, the state issued 6500 automated speeding tickets on the freeway to generate a minimum of $2.4 million in revenue.