Speed cameras ticketed one car 12 times in just a month, mayor says as city reveals data

The city's speed enforcement cameras issued 22,301 tickets from July 6 to Aug. 5, the city says — with one vehicle somehow managing to be ticketed 12 times from the same location.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Mayor John Tory said the car was caught speeding each time by a camera near Tom Longboat Junior Public School in Scarborough.

"Twelve tickets for the same vehicle in one month — now that person, or whoever is driving that car, has a real problem with their driving habits to say the very least," Tory said.

According to the data, 2,240 people were caught on camera speeding more than once.

The city began installing speed enforcement cameras, a key part of its Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic-related fatalities, last December. For the first 90 days, motorists caught speeding received warning letters instead of tickets as part of a public education campaign.

The 50 cameras are installed city-wide on local, collector and arterial roads in community safety zones near schools. Two cameras were installed in each ward with the ability to record license plates and mail out tickets to speeders.

Tory pointed to the over 22,300 tickets issued so far, saying that it means on average there were 700 speeding incidents each day caught on camera, despite fewer vehicles being on the road because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The data tells a frustrating story, but I'm confident that it will ultimately lead to a change in behaviour," he said.

It's unclear at this time whether or not the city will add more cameras in the future.