The City of Ottawa Traffic Services staff have taken steps to resolve an administrative error related to the Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) Program. Approximately 1,500 speeding tickets were incorrectly issued at two speed camera locations in Ottawa. The error has now been resolved and tickets issued in error will be cancelled. Affected vehicle owners will be notified by mail.
All speeding tickets issued between July 1 and August 15, 2022, at the following speed camera locations are in the process of being cancelled:
• Abbott Street East, between Moss Hill Trail and Shea Road, near Sacred Heart High School; and,
• Alta Vista Drive, between Ayers Avenue and Ridgemont Avenue, near Ridgemont High School, St. Patrick’s High School and Charles H. Hulse Public School.
The speed limit at the above locations is 40 km/h between 7:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday, from September to June. However, the speed limit at all other times, including during the summer months, is 50 km/h. As a result of the administrative error, speeding tickets continued to be issued based on a
40 km/h speed limit in July and August as though school was still in session.
As of August 16, the enforcement criteria have been updated for each site, and speeding tickets issued after this date are valid.
All vehicle owners impacted by this administrative error will be notified by mail by the end of September, and their speeding tickets will be cancelled. They are asked not to pay their fines. Those who have paid will be reimbursed their full fine amount by the end of October. No action is required by ticket recipients to initiate the reimbursement.
To determine whether a ticket has been issued in error, ticket recipients must verify the date of the speeding offence, in addition to the offence location on their ASE speeding ticket. Please see Attachment 1 – Automated Speed Enforcement System Offence Notice Sample, which highlights where this information can be found.
Communication processes, in addition to the quality of documentation shared with both the Joint Processing Centre and our vendor, have been revised so that such administrative errors do not reoccur in the future. Internal processes have also been adjusted to ensure the timely review of enforcement criteria at sites with a reduced school speed zone.
Attachment 1 – Automated Speed Enforcement System Office Notice Sample:
To determine whether a speeding ticket has been issued in error, ticket recipients must verify the date of the speeding offence, in addition to the offence location. A speeding ticket was only issued in error, and consequently will be cancelled, if these two criteria are met:
• Offence date is on, or falls between, July 1st and August 15th 2022; and,
• Offence location is at either:
- Abbott Street East, between Moss Hill Trail and Shea Road; or,
- Alta Vista Drive between Ayers Avenue and Ridgemont Avenue.
The offence date and location are on the left side of the ticket, next to the first image which shows the vehicle used to commit the offence. This information is found in the red circle in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1 – Sample ASE Speeding Ticket
