Single Toronto speed camera has raked in a staggering $3.3M in just 16 months

Toronto’s biggest cash cow of a speed camera once again ranked at the top of the City’s 75 such traffic enforcement devices, its tally rising to well over an estimated $3.3 million in tickets issued.

New data from the City shows the infamous Parkside Drive speed camera near Algonquin Avenue has issued another 2,068 speeding tickets since the last report in June, making the camera the city’s highest-ticketed for the 13th time since its installation in April 2022, and bringing its total tickets issued up to a stratospheric 31,006.

Based on an average ticket fee of $107, it is estimated that the Parkside Drive speed camera has singlehandedly injected $3,317,642 into city coffers.

Despite its ability to rake in the dough, the latest data shows that the camera is clearly not proving an effective deterrent for speeding drivers.

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In one recent instance, the camera recorded a driver travelling at 126 km/h, the highest speed captured on the stretch to date at over three times the posted speed limit of 40 km/h.

Community organization Safe Parkside has applied continued pressure on the City to address speeding on Parkside Drive, using the speed camera statistics as evidence that not enough is being done to make the street safer for vulnerable road users.

“The lone speed camera is not an effective safety tool on Parkside Drive as currently designed,” reads a statement from the organization.

Safe Parkside shared a video showing drivers slowing down for the speed camera, however, the organization states that this is “a common tactic used by motorists to avoid getting a ticket from the Parkside Drive speed camera: motorists are only slowing down in the immediate vicinity of the speed camera rather than correcting their driving behaviour.”

Drivers slow down for Toronto’s most infamous speeding camera – 📹 @safeparkside #Toronto pic.twitter.com/7CSXYASSjr

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 17, 2023

Safe Parkside argues that “while High Park undergoes a safety makeover, neighbouring Parkside Drive continues to put park visitors and residents at risk.”

“As the City improves High Park to encourage walking, biking and public transit, speeding on Parkside Drive remains a serious danger to these vulnerable park visitors.”

The organization calls for action on the City’s long-delayed Parkside Drive Study, which was approved in November 2021 to turn Parkside into a “Complete Street” as a companion to the High Park Movement Strategy.

The study has since been delayed three times and is now on the docket for this fall.

In the meanwhile, Safe Parkside is continuing its advocacy for bike lanes and a street redesign that protects all road users.