Speeding has decreased across Toronto with automated enforcement cameras

A speed camera in Toronto is seen on May 14. (John Musselman)

TORONTO — There has been a significant drop in speeding in the areas of the city outfitted with automatic enforcement cameras and Mayor John Tory says that one year into the program it is now clear that it is making “our streets safer.”

Tory made the comment during a press conference on Tuesday morning held to mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the program.

He said that preliminary research led by the Hospital for Sick Children has shown a drop in speeding across the board in the areas where the 50 cameras have been deployed on a rotating basis.

In fact, the data shows that 51 per cent of vehicle traffic was travelling in excess of the speed limit during the warning period after the cameras were first installed in early 2020. But by late 2020 only 36 per cent of vehicles were found to be speeding.

The data also points to a decline in overly excessive speeds, even as drivers continue to ignore the posted limit. It found that the average speeding driver travelled approximately 18 km/hr over the limit in 40 km/hr zones prior to the arrival of the cameras but are now only clocked at 6 km/h above the limit in 40 km/hr zones.

This could be due to the fact that drivers face a set fine for every 1 km/h over the posted limit they are caught travelling. It is $5 per kilometre for drivers travelling 1-19 km/hr over the limit and goes up from there.

“I will say that I'm both happy and unhappy about the numbers. Happy because we are successfully cracking down on people who insist on speeding across the city some in an extraordinarily excessive manner, but I'm not happy at the fact that there are still so many of them,” Tory told reporters. “The numbers I am reporting this morning are evidence that the cameras are helping to make city streets safer but as very recent tragedies attest, we still have a long way to go.”

Tory said that the automatic speed enforcement cameras issued a total of 227, 322 tickets during the first year of enforcement.

He said that one vehicle was even caught exceeding the posted speed limit on 27 separate occasions.

Another, he said, was caught travelling 137 km/h in a 50 km/hr zone on McCowan Road north of Kenhatch Boulevard.

Under provincial regulations, there is no set fine for charges related to excessive speeding and drivers are instead issued a summons to appear in court.

“You really have to wonder about somebody's going 137 kilometres an hour anywhere in the city, at any time, no matter what, or anybody getting 27 speeding tickets in a single year,” Tory said.

The automatic speed enforcement cameras are installed near schools in community safety zones but are moved around every four to six months to maximize their impact.

The city says that the camera that issued the most tickets in June, which is the most recent month for which data is available, was located on Greenwood Avenue south of Glebeholme Boulevard. It issued 3,729 tickets over the course of the month, accounting for 14 per cent of all tickets.