A driver going past Toronto’s most controversial speed cameras hit more than 150 km/h, according to new information released by a local advocacy group, who say their numbers prove why speed enforcement is necessary.
Safe Parkside, which has for years lobbied to improve road safety and reduce speeding on Toronto’s Parkside Drive, released the figures as it fights to stop an impending camera ban from the provincial government.
According to freedom of information documents obtained and released by the group, a vehicle was recorded on Parkside Drive going 154 km/h in 2024, the same year another was clocked at 146 km/h.
The group released a list of speeding violations snapped by the cameras, with the top 10 all 119 km/h or above on the road, where the limit is 40 km/h.
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“These numbers confirm the dangers residents experience on Parkside Drive on a daily basis. The most alarming part is not the numbers themselves, but that the City of Toronto is aware of all of this and yet continues to drag their feet when it comes to finally addressing the rampant speeding on Parkside Drive,” the group said in a statement.
“This is all happening right beside the city’s busiest park, as families, children, seniors, daycares and schools are forced to cross this urban highway.”
The camera on Parkside Drive has been vandalized and chopped down repeatedly since it was installed. The road has also been the scene of a number of dangerous crashes in recent years, something Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow recently highlighted.
Three years ago, a suspended driver hit more than 100 km/h on the road, rear-ending another vehicle and killing two people inside.
Chow said the camera was on Parkside Drive to punish people who speed on the dangerous section of road.
“The Ford government talked about Parkside. I noticed in the last 10 years, there’s seven serious accidents with three deaths, five serious injuries and these speed cameras were put in there really help slow down the cars,” she said.
Safe Parkside is among those pushing the province not to scrap automated speed enforcement cameras, which Premier Doug Ford has called a “tax grab” and claimed do not work to slow speeding.
The premier and his transportation minister said last month they would table legislation to ban municipalities from operating speed cameras.
When the legislation is tabled, it will complete a policy walkback from the premier who introduced the regulations in 2019 that govern speed cameras in the first place, bringing into force a law written by the previous Liberal government.
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