Tomorrow, Ontario’s hated ‘speed cameras’ will be scrapped. Some have called the unilateral move by Premier Doug Ford pandering, but this shrewd political move may actually improve road safety.
It started out so well-intentioned. In 2017, former Premier Kathleen Wynne introduced the ‘Safer School Zones Act‘ intended to protect vulnerable children with speed cameras. Cities recognized how easy it was to make money with these devilish devices. No police officers needed, tickets issued 24/7, and zero cost as private companies install cameras for a percentage of profits.
But there’s only so many schools to generate revenues from, so laws were changed to expand the definition of ‘vulnerable’ to include the elderly. Later, any neighborhood could be declared a ‘community safety zone’ if a car accident had ever occurred there. Opportunists at city hall saw the opportunity to profit from tragedy.
In 2021, an elderly couple were killed in a car crash on Parkside Dr in Toronto’s west end. Speed was certainly a factor, so the maximum limit on the arterial road was dropped from 50 km/h to 40 km/h and speed cameras were installed. The community demanded changes to the road including chicanes, traffic circles, and speed humps to slow vehicle speeds. No changes were ever implemented.
Instead, the infamous Parkside Dr speed camera generated $8 million in fines from 69,000 tickets since 2022. Local community groups were furious that city hall refused to implement any other safety recommendations, even those based on Toronto’s own reports. Speed bumps would save lives, but they would also reduce revenue.
More than 700 speed cameras infested city streets in 40 of the province’s municipalities, with even more planned in 2026… until the Premier weighed in.
“Too many municipalities are using speed cameras as a cash grab. Enough is enough. Instead of making life more expensive by sending speeding tickets to drivers weeks after the fact, we’re supporting road-safety measures that will prevent speeding in the first place, keep costs down and keep our streets safe.”
-Doug Ford, Ontario Premier
Automatic speed enforcement cameras are not solutions. Changing the design speed of a road through proactive traffic calming measures like speed bumps, roundabouts, and raised crosswalks are solution. Permanent solutions that slow drivers down and actually improve safety.
As an extra ‘F-you‘ to the cities, the province now requires municipalities with existing speed cameras in school zones to install large signs to slow down drivers by tomorrow, and also to incur the costs of large permanent signs with flashing lights by September 2026. The Premier is going to help those cities spend all that money taken from drivers’ wallets.
Good move taking down the cameras. School zones tick me off because they back up traffic during rush hour, for no reason. There are never kids crossing streets in school zones. If kids live across the street from a school and the street is a regular thoroughfare, it’s rare for a school to be in a pure residential area, the kids are not allowed to walk across the street to school, even though traffic is slowed down to 15 mph in the school zone. Either their parents have to drive them to school, or a school bus has to pick up the kids, drive them around the block and drop them off in a designated bus drop-off lane. It’s crazy stupid, and makes the case for doing away with school zones.
I never really thought about the pointlessness of ‘school zones’. When I think of the one near my home, the school is bordered by 1 major street, and 3 residential streets. The traffic calming measures on the small streets (serious speed bumps) keep drivers under 30 km/h. And those residential streets are where kids who walk to school would be walking.
The major street? It’s already been dropped from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. For years its had that confounded speed camera. But I never thought about the fact that across the street is a different school zone. There are very few if any kids crossing the big street.
And between school buses and parental pickup, you’re right… is there really a reason for traffic in the area to be slowed to a crawl? Especially on the surrounding arterial roads?