Speed cameras work, but do generate revenue. Is the solution investing that money to redesign safer streets?

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Automated speed cameras are catching drivers in cities across Canada, but some officials such as Ontario Premier Doug Ford see them as a “tax grab” and wants them banned. Last week, he announced they will be outlawed across the province with legislation this fall.

Ontario’s decision to kill speed cameras puts Ford at odds with some municipalities, police

How much over the speed limit can I go before getting a photo radar ticket?

There’s no denying that the cameras generate revenue. From Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2025, the City of Toronto issued 550,997 tickets and collected $30,375,059.90 from its 150 automated speed cameras, according to City of Toronto data sent to The Globe and Mail.

While the pros and cons of speed cameras could be debated for hours, some experts believe that – instead of trapping drivers – the real solution is redesigning our streets in ways that slow down drivers using traffic calming measures such as curb extensions and narrower lanes.

Then, drivers might not feel like they’re being trapped and forced to pay hefty fines, even when travelling only a few kilometres above the seemingly low posted speed limit on a street that seems like you should be driving much faster, by speed cameras watching 24-7.

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The speed camera conundrum

In Toronto’s west end, the Parkside Drive automated speed camera is one of the busiest, most lucrative and not to mention most vandalized camera in the city. Installed in April 2022, after a speeding motorist killed an elderly couple in a five-car crash, it has generated about $7.3-million in fines for the city (based on a $107 ticket), according to Safe Parkside, a non-profit community group on a mission to make Parkside Drive safer.

The camera has also been cut down seven times in the past 10 months and “spent more time on its side or in a pond than it has upright and functioning,” says Faraz Gholizadeh, co-chair of Safe Parkside.

Gholizadeh believes speed cameras can be effective if they’re near a school, for example, because they slow drivers in the area where kids may be crossing. But “when you have a two-kilometre street that you see speeding on every metre of it, putting a single speed camera at the end of it is not going to solve the problem,” he said.

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The highest recorded speed on the Parkside camera was 154 kilometres an hour – nearly four times the posted speed limit of 40, according to Gholizadeh.

“The goal of ASE [automated speed enforcement] is not to generate revenue, but rather to have drivers obey the posted speed limit to create a safer city for all road users,” Barbara Gray, general manager of transportation services for the City of Toronto, wrote in an e-mail to The Globe.

Where does all the money go? When asked for specific examples of its use in Toronto communities, Gray didn’t respond directly, simply stating that, “Like other fines and fees, ASE fines support general city programs and services.”

Communities, including Humber River-Black Creek and Parkside, haven’t seen money reinvested into making streets safer.

“We haven’t seen a cent of it on Parkside, unfortunately. I don’t know where that nearly $8-million is going, but it’s certainly not to make Parkside safe – that’s for sure,” Gholizadeh said.

While the city approved a study of Parkside Drive in November, 2021 to explore design changes to the road to improve safety, Gholizadeh argues nothing has been done to make life-saving safety improvements.

“Initially, the money was supposed to go back into the program [to make communities safer in school zones], but I don’t know if that’s fully the case now,” said Toronto city councillor Anthony Perruzza.

Some communities, such as the City of Vaughan, have changed their approach to using speed cameras following public outrage after more than 30,000 tickets were generated in three weeks. In mid-September, Vaughan city council supported a motion from the mayor to end its ASE program and instead focus on other “traffic-calming measures.”

Cameras do their job to deter speeding

Still, studies show automated speed cameras work, especially in school zones.

Researchers from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) found a 45-per-cent drop in speeding, an 88-per-cent reduction in vehicles exceeding the limit by 20 kilometres an hour or more and a 10.7-kilometre-per-hour drop in the 85th percentile speed when cameras were active.

“As you increase the speed by going from 30-to-60 [kilometres], you’re going from a situation where pedestrian collisions are survivable to a situation where they are not,” said Dr. Andrew Howard, lead author of the study and head of orthopedic surgery and senior scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids.

According to a recent Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) study, driver behaviour and acceptance of the automated speed cameras is changing.

“In the news, we’re always hearing about the cameras being vandalized or people speaking out against the cameras, but what really surprised me from this survey was that almost three-quarters of drivers support automated speed enforcement, especially near schools and community centres. And 76 per cent believe they deter speeding,” said Michael Stewart, community relations consultant at CAA South Central Ontario.

If you speed, you deserve to be fined. But it shouldn’t feel like a speed trap where cameras are hidden or poorly visible. Toronto city councillor Anthony Perruzza wants speed limits and school zones better defined, larger cameras that are easier to spot and more visible signage around them.

“You don’t want people receiving these tickets unnecessarily in the mail after the fact – after they thought they did nothing wrong. It makes it harder for people. It makes it tough. The cost of living is tough for all of us now,” Perruzza said.

Not everyone agrees.

“So we’re not going to enforce criminal and dangerous behaviour?” aksed Sean Shapiro, a former Toronto police officer, traffic safety advocate and consultant and founder of BetterTraffic.ca. “How ridiculous is the statement that people who were getting fined [for] breaking the law should be getting some kind of preferential treatment because times are tough. Are we making friends and buying votes or are we making safety for the vulnerable?”

As a former traffic cop, I see the evidence first-hand – speed cameras aren’t a tax grab, they make cities safer

Gholizadeh believes the solution to reducing speeding is engineering safety into our streets – designing a road that’s not an “urban highway” such as Parkside Drive.

“People base their speed on the design of [the] road. So, if you have a road that has wide lanes, straight and few lights then people will drive fast because that’s what feels comfortable and normal on that street,” he said.

But redesigning roads takes big bucks and automated speed cameras are a more cost-effective way to reduce speed, said Steven Murphy, project engineer, transportation for the City of Orillia, north of Toronto. Orillia installed three automated speed cameras in August and generated more than 8,000 tickets in the first three weeks.

“The ultimate answer would be to look for potential road redesigns where we reduce crossings and narrow the lanes,” but Mr. Murphy estimated that would cost a few million dollars for one road. “A speed enforcement camera seems to get the same amount [of reduced speeders] for substantially less purchase price.

There are cheaper solutions, which Gholizadeh has spent years advocating for. He wants to see Parkside Drive participate in the CaféTO program, which allows restaurants in Toronto to expand their space in the summer by closing a lane and installing cement barriers.

“The city could easily do something like that and change Parkside Drive almost overnight. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be the political will to get these changes done,” he said.