Hamilton's 1st speed camera covered in paint, but city says that won't stop enforcement

It's going to take more than some paint to stop photo radar speed enforcement in Hamilton.

Someone covered the city's first photo radarcamera inblack squigglesthe day before it was set to begin catching speeders on Stone Church Road between Dartnall and Pritchardroads.

But that vandalism won't do much to slow the city's plans, according to public works spokesperson Jasmine Graham.

"The paint is being cleaned off today," she wrote in an email to CBC."The plan willstill be to beginenforcement tomorrow."

The camera is part of a 12-month automated speed enforcement (ASE) pilot project the city says is aimed at keeping vulnerable road users safe in school and community safety zones.

"We believe this will increase driver awareness of posted speed limits and significantly decrease injuries and fatalities as a result of motor vehicle collisions,"stated Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

As part of the one-year pilot, the city has selected12 locations for cameras, based on speed and collision data.

There will be two cameras operating at one location at a time over the course of one year starting Oct. 1.

If a vehicle is clocked drivingabovethe posted speed limit in an ASE-enforced areathe registered owner of the vehicle will receive a ticket, regardless of who was behind the wheel.

Owners will be fined but demerit points will not be issued.

Hamilton's speed camera isfar from the first of its kind to be hit by vandals.

Media reports from Toronto, where 50 cameras were installed, report the big silver boxes have been damaged and even stolen.

Thecameras that survived issued22,301 tickets from July 6 to Aug. 5, according to city officials,includingone vehicle that managedto be ticketed 12 times fromthe same location.