More than 300 Toronto speed cameras have been vandalized this year, city officials report

Cars zoom past a vandalized traffic speed camera beside High Park in Toronto on Thursday August 24, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)

Toronto speed cameras have been targeted more than 300 times this year, raising concerns about road safety just weeks after officials announced plans to expand the program.

In an email to CTV News Toronto, city staff confirmed that there have been 325 incidents of vandalism involving its Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras so far in 2025, noting that incidents include “any vandalism, not just damage beyond repair.”

The data comes less than a month after the city said it would double the number of speed cameras from 75 to 150 amid growing concerns about traffic deaths in relation to speed.

One notorious camera, near Parkside Drive and Algonquin Avenue has been repeatedly chopped down, even as it issued more than 66,000 tickets and generated millions of dollars.

Last month, it was axed again for a fourth time after being tossed in a nearby pond several months prior.

Now, new figures released by the city show that hostility toward the program extends far beyond just one intersection.

The city says it notifies Toronto police whenever a device is damaged and launch investigations as needed.

In 2024, exactly 12 cameras were deemed “vandalized beyond repair,” with estimated repair costs of $10,000 per unit. Those costs, the city says, are usually absorbed by private contractors which are responsible for the upkeep of the devices.

Barbara Gray, Toronto’s general manager of transportation services, has been vocal about the recent wave of vandalism, noting that the city is working to make speed cameras less vulnerable to tampering.

“We are in the process of converting more of our automated speed cameras into permanent pole-mounted cameras,” she said at a news conference last month.

In the statement, the city says it “condemns all acts of theft and vandalism of ASE cameras as this negatively impacts road safety and allows dangerous speeding to continue near vulnerable road users.”

Whether that tension escalates, remains to be seen.

The city noted that ASE cameras are only installed in Community Safety Zones and School Zones, specifically near schools, parks, playgrounds, seniors’ residences and other locations “where children, senior citizens and other vulnerable road users are likely to be present.”