Toronto speed cameras prompting drivers to slow down, research shows

New research suggests the presence of 50 speed cameras in Toronto is prompting drivers to slow down.

Mayor John Tory says the city's automated speed enforcement program is working to make streets safer, according to preliminary data from an evaluation study done by Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. The city began issuing tickets in July 2020 using data gleaned from its speed cameras.

"It's very clear that when cameras go up, drivers do, in fact, slow down," Tory said on Tuesday in front of a speed camera at Lawrence Avenue East and Ben Stanton Boulevard in Scarborough.

"But you still have to wonder at the notion of anybody going 137 kilometres per hour, no matter what the speed limit is, no matter where it is in the city, no matter when it is, or at somebody who gets 27 tickets in one reporting period at three different sets of locations."

Tory said, however, that the results show that speed cameras are effective and driver behaviour is changing, even though there is still more work to be done.

"It's clear that speeding continues to be a huge road safety problem in Toronto," he told reporters.

Speed cameras, part of the city's Vision Zero program to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on city streets, are placed near schools in community safety zones. Each ward has two devices.

All the cameras capture and record images of speeding vehicles. Signs are placed near the devices to make drivers aware of their presence.

Number of speeding vehicles has dropped, research shows

Preliminary results of the study show the number of vehicles travelling in excess of the speed limit dropped on streets where there were speed cameras from July to November 2020 compared to a time period before the cameras were installed in December 2019. 

For example, the percentage of speeding vehicles in 40 km/h speed limit zones dropped from 49 per cent to 28 per cent by November 2020.

The percentage of speeding vehicles in 30 km/h speed limit zones also dropped from 55 per cent to 44 per cent.

Similarly, the percentage of vehicles exceeding the speed limit also dropped, from 51 per cent to 36 per cent.

Speed cameras to be in force at start of school

Tory said the data from the research makes him both happy and unhappy.

"I'm happy because we are successfully cracking down on people who insist on speeding across the city, some in an extraordinarily excessive manner. But I'm unhappy at the fact that there are still so many of them," he said.

Tory said the speed cameras will be in force when children return to school in September.

During the first year of enforcement, from July 6, 2020 to July 5, 2021, the city's speed cameras issued 227,322 tickets to speeding vehicles.

One vehicle was caught 27 times by three cameras over the course of the year.

The highest speed recorded was 137 km/h in a 50 km/h speed limit zone on McCowan Road north of Kenhatch Boulevard. The average ticketed speed was 15 kilometres per hour over the posted speed limit.

Tory said the city rotates the speed cameras every four to six months to different areas where speeding is a concern. The city plans to move the cameras again in October and enforcement will begin at the new locations in November.

Coun. Jennifer McKelvie, who represents Ward 25, Scarborough-Rouge Park, and who chairs the city's infrastructure and environment committee, reminded drivers that empty roads are not invitation to speed.

"We're happy that automated speed enforcement is working, but it's also showing us the full extent of the problem. Driving in excess of the posted speed limit is never okay," she said.

"Speed limits are not guidelines. They are the law. The existence of speed cameras on our roadways is a reminder that each and every driver needs to slow down and obey the posted speed limit, especially near schools and community safety zones."

'Excessive speed kills' 

Dr. Linda Rothman, an adjunct scientist at SickKids, said the preliminary research shows that the numbers of vehicles speeding and vehicles excessively speeding have both dropped due to the presence of speed cameras.

"Speed matters. Our previous work in Toronto has shown that lowering neighborhood speed limits from 40 to 30 kilometres per hour reduces pedestrian collisions by almost 30 percent. And excessive speed kills," she said. 

"A pedestrian struck by a 30-kilometre-per-hour vehicle has a very high chance of surviving the collision. A pedestrian struck by a 60-kilometre-per-hour vehicle has a negligible chance of survival," Rothman added. 

"The reduction in speeding that we are seeing with this program is exactly where we need it to be to protect pedestrian lives."