It’s been a rough year for speed cameras.
Despite years of proof that they slow down drivers and reduce crashes, Ontario banned speed cameras entirely in November – and Alberta limited them mainly to school and construction zones in April. After speed cameras were repeatedly vandalized in Toronto, you asked us plenty of questions about them.
Since the ban, Alberta has reactivated a few speed cameras at intersections where crashes spiked. In Ontario, a new Angus Reid online survey shows that about half of residents surveyed think removing the cameras was a mistake.
You also asked us about red light cameras and whether tiny electric cars are allowed on sidewalks. But, mostly, you sent us questions about right-of-way at intersections – so many that one reader wondered if drivers should be retested regularly to make sure we all know the rules. Here are a few of the most-read answers to your questions in 2025:
Cities still won’t give a trigger warning for photo radar tickets
What speed over the limit triggers speed cameras? When we asked in September, cities wouldn’t say – because they don’t want drivers to speed at all.
When we checked again with several Ontario cities this month after all speed cameras had been removed, they still wouldn’t say. “Even with the cameras removed, [revealing the trigger speed] would compromise the investigative techniques and procedures used in law enforcement,” Kate Lear, a City of Toronto spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Although Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that people were being ticketed for going just a few kilometres an hour over the speed limit, safety experts said the threshold was at least 10 kilometres an hour over the limit.
Whether tickets are issued by camera or cop, speeding fines are the same
Until Ontario outlawed speed cameras, the fines were the same as tickets issued by cops. The province is one of six places in Canada that increases the fine for each kilometre an hour that you’re over the speed limit.
But Ontario’s cameras, which were introduced by Ford’s government in 2019, were limited to school and community safety zones, where speeding fines double.
Unlike tickets issued by officers, speed enforcement tickets don’t go on your driving record or affect your insurance rates anywhere in Canada.
Speed cameras haven’t disappeared everywhere. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec and Newfoundland all use them. Laws in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island allow speed cameras, but no cities there are using them yet. This fall, Nova Scotia said it could add them in the future.
One of the gripes about speed camera tickets was that they make money for cities – the same way tickets issued by officers make money for provinces.
You won’t get a red-light-camera ticket if you don’t stop for three seconds before turning right
If you’re turning right at a red light or stop sign, you should stay stopped until it’s safe to go.
Police and red light cameras aren’t counting how long you’ve stopped – but just making sure you stop at all, said Sean Shapiro, a road safety consultant. “So many people are confused about right turns on reds,” Shapiro said. “They think they don’t have to stop.”
Most cities we asked said you can get a red-light-camera ticket if you don’t come to a complete stop at the painted stop line once the light is red.
That also means you shouldn’t get a red-light-camera ticket in the mail if you’re already in the intersection waiting to turn left when the light turns red.
“The vehicle that is making a right turn on a green has the right of way [the same as if it were going straight through],” Shapiro said. “The vehicle wanting to make a left turn on a green has a higher level of responsibility because they’re crossing over oncoming traffic.”
But if there’s more than one lane, you should both be able to turn safely – as long as you stay in your lane.
Those rules change when you have an advance green – a left-pointing green arrow or flashing green light that tells you to turn.
That signal means drivers turning right have a red light and must wait until it’s safe.
If you’re turning right at a green light, slow down or stop to make sure it’s safe
There’s no law in Canada that requires you to slow down or come to a complete stop at a green light before making a turn.
But every province, including Ontario, requires that all turns be made safely.
That means you should be going slowly enough that you won’t hit a pedestrian or cyclist who’s about to cross in front of you.
And if you rear-end a driver who unexpectedly stopped before turning at a green light, you could be charged with following too closely, safety experts said.
At a two-way stop sign, it should be ‘first come, first served’
In most provinces, whoever gets to their stop sign first should have the right of way, police and safety experts said. But in practice, if you’re turning left and the car opposite is going straight at a two-way stop sign, you may have to yield to prevent a crash – even if you got there first.
It’s wise to err on the side of safety, especially because the rules in most provinces aren’t written clearly, safety experts said.
“It’s important to signal your intentions and to get eye-to-eye contact with the other driver to ensure that they [will do what you think they will],” said Angelo DiCicco, chief executive officer of the Ontario Safety League.
Have a driving question? Send it to globedrive@globeandmail.com and put ‘Driving Concerns’ in your subject line. E-mails without the correct subject line may not be answered. Canada’s a big place, so let us know where you are so we can find the answer for your city and province.