![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.4702997.1574810978!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
City of Ottawa owed millions in unpaid fines for red light, photo radar camera violations
![Photo radar camera in Ottawa A photo radar camera in Ottawa. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2023/4/20/photo-radar-camera-in-ottawa-1-6364592-1682031103223.jpg)
Drivers owe the City of Ottawa more than $16 million in unpaid fines for photo radar and red light camera violations over the past six years.
The city's red light camera program has resulted in 300,338 tickets issued to drivers for running red lights since January 1, 2018, while the automated speed enforcement program has resulted in 673,567 speeding tickets since the program launched in July 2020.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
Statistics provided to CTV News Ottawa that there are 49,183 "unpaid and defaulted" fines totaling $8.8 million for photo radar infractions, and 21,236 "unpaid and defaulted" fines worth $7.299 million for red light camera violations.
The ticket is considered past due 91 days from the day the ticket is issued.
City staff say on average, seven per cent of tickets issued by the cameras remain unpaid.
"Unpaid fines can lead to license plate denial, transfer of offence to the property tax roll, garnishment of wages or a writ of seizure and sale," staff said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.
"Additionally, the City can make referrals to a private collection agency for enhanced collection. The City of Ottawa has an agreement in place with Province of Quebec, which includes the denial of license plate renewal."
Ottawa has "reciprocal agreements" with other provinces to collect the fines for unpaid tickets from drivers outside of Ontario.
The city says the average number of unpaid tickets has increased from four per cent before the pandemic to seven per cent now.
The fine for being caught running a red light by the red light cameras is $325, which includes a service fee and victim surcharge. The fine for speeding when caught by an automated speed enforcement camera depends on how fast the driver was travelling, with fines doubled for speeding in a community safety zone.
Tickets issued through the automated speed enforcement cameras and red light cameras are issued to the registered owner of the vehicle, not the driver at the time of the infraction.
Earlier this year, thousands of people saw a dip in their credit score because of old tickets and fines issued in Ottawa dating back to 2003.
The city contracted a new private collections agency to collect 103,000 unpaid Provincial Offences Act fines. The collection agency told CTV News Ottawa in March that once someone pays off the balance on the account, all credit scores will be updated.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.7034404.1726088503!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Buy nothing': PSAC wants federal workers to boycott downtown Ottawa businesses
A union representing federal employees is asking its members to bring their own lunch to work, in an apparent retaliation against downtown Ottawa businesses as new return-to-office protocols begin.
Actions speak louder: What experts are saying about the body language in the U.S. presidential debate
The highly anticipated debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a heated matchup. Here's what experts who analyzed the exchange had to say.
Jon Bon Jovi helps talk woman down from ledge on Nashville bridge
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi and a video production assistant persuaded a woman standing on the ledge of a pedestrian bridge in Nashville to come back over the railing to safety.
Inside a Manitoba ghost town, a group of ladies works to keep it alive
Abandoned homes line the streets of Lauder, a town that's now a ghost of what it once was. Yet inside, a small community is thriving.
B.C. family says razor blades found in bag of frozen blueberries
The B.C. parents of an 11-year-old girl said their daughter recently found a package containing razor blades in a bag of Kirkland-brand frozen blueberries.
Langenburg UFO sighting commemorated with silver coin
Perhaps Saskatchewan's most famous encounter with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP/UFO) – "The Langenburg Event" is now being immortalized in the form of a collective coin.
Taylor Swift wins at MTV Video Music Awards and Chappell Roan gets medieval
Taylor Swift and Post Malone took home the first award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, for best collaboration, handed to them by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.
Man, 70, and woman, 71, found shot dead in Montreal apartment, police
Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after a man, 70, and woman, 71, were killed by gunshot wounds in an apartment.
Tens of thousands in the dark after Hurricane Francine strikes Louisiana with 100 m.p.h. winds
Hurricane Francine struck Louisiana on Wednesday evening as a Category 2 storm that forecasters warned could bring deadly storm surge, widespread flooding and destructive winds on the northern U.S. Gulf Coast.