In a story that is starting to feel a little repetitive, vandals have once again cut down Toronto’s most controversial automated speed enforcement camera.
The Parkside Drive automated speed enforcement camera was cut down yet again overnight on Tuesday, marking the sixth time the device has been chopped down in the last eight months.
Toronto Police had even taken recent steps to prevent further vandalism, including the addition of a surveillance camera this summer in the wake of another downing incident.
It seems you can install a speed camera and you can reinstall a speed camera — heck, you can even install a surveillance camera to monitor the speed camera — but in the end, none of these answers have proven to be effective long-term solutions.
First installed in 2021 following a fatal five-car collision, the camera is estimated to have raked in over $7.3 million in fines to date through just shy of 68,600 traffic tickets.
While championed by vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians, the camera has become a rallying point for motorists, and this debate has even spilled into City Council chambers in recent weeks.
Community organization Safe Parkside issued a statement on Wednesday, warning that “Parkside residents continue to sound the alarm and the City of Toronto continues to fail in addressing the dangerous conditions that persist on Parkside Drive.”
The group points out that ” the Parkside Drive speed camera recently captured a motorist travelling at a speed of 154 km/h, nearly 4 times the posted speed limit of 40 km/h, underlining the urgent need for a redesign of this deadly street.”
“A speed camera that has recently spent more time on its side or in a pond than it has upright and functioning has clearly fallen well short of addressing the dangerous speeding on Parkside Drive.”
