Speakers Corner: Is your driving speed really being tracked by police aircraft?

In this week’s Speakers Corner we were asked about signs warning you that you’re entering a zone where police use aircraft to catch speeders.

But are those signs still relevant, and if so, how often are police planes deployed?

“I don’t think they have time to be up there everyday,” said driver Mike Scaringella.

He often passes the many signs on highways like the 401 and QEW which indicate otherwise. But it turns out, those signs are a bit outdated.

“Those signs are not as relevant now as they used to be,” said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, who notes the signs were put up years ago. Back then, they marked zones where speed could be tracked by aircraft.

“In those zones there would be an officer in an airplane above timing vehicles going from one marked point to another marked point to find out how fast they were going,” Schmidt explained.

Those marked points were painted yellow lines that you still see on highways today.

But that has now changed, thanks to new technology.

“Now with the new system in our airplanes we don’t need those painted lines,” Schmidt said. “The system we have in all of our aircraft is the Churchill system.”

It works much like a speed radar in police vehicles.

“When the vehicle is moving they are able to take an actual real time speed of a vehicle that’s going down the highway,” Schmidt said.

The new technology means aircraft speed control is no longer only in zones indicated by those highway signs.

“Because now, the aircraft can do the speed enforcement anywhere in the province on any road any time and anywhere.”

But how often is an aircraft actually deployed?

“It does go up on a semi-regular basis,” Schmidt said. “I can’t really comment on how often it is up and flying but I can tell you, it is flying on a regular basis.”

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