Sixteen speed cameras were damaged by vandals in 海角社区官网overnight, police confirmed Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Premier聽Doug Ford聽said it’s time for Ontario municipalities to put the brakes on聽speed cameras, calling the automated devices “a tax grab.”
海角社区官网police Duty Insp. Peter Wallace is expected to update reporters on the vandalism at 3:30 p.m.
There are聽, meaning that over 10 per cent of them were hit in the past 24 hours.
Here’s which cameras were targeted:
The incidents are just the latest in an ever-increasing mystery sweeping Toronto, with the Parkside Drive camera, which has been cut down multiple times over the past year, being the most popular target.聽
“They should take out those cameras, all of them,” Ford told reporters after a breakfast speech to the 海角社区官网Region Board of Trade Tuesday morning, before the total number of newly vandalized cameras had been reported.聽
“If you want to slow down traffic at school, you put the big, huge signs, big flashing lights, crossing area, people will slow down,” he added.
“This is nothing but a tax grab. I’ve driven by speed traps that aren’t even close to school areas.”
He called on 海角社区官网Mayor Olivia Chow to follow the lead of Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca and take them off the roads.
“Or I’m going to help them get rid of them, very shortly,” Ford said.
“I have an idea. Why don’t we pay a police officer with a radar gun there every once in a while, so it’ll be a radar trap and people will slow down.”
The premier said it’s “not fair” for drivers to be getting tickets for going “five or 10 kilometres over.”
“I’m dead set against this photo radar.”
The premier should be thinking about safety instead of condemning photo radar, said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
鈥淲hat an idiotic thing to say,鈥 she told reporters at the legislature. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e speeding, you should stop speeding 鈥 we know that some of these speed cameras are put up as well because people died.鈥
鈥淲e have a premier who put booze in gas stations, and now he wants to tear down our speed cameras.鈥

Police tape sectioned off another toppled speed camera near Dufferin Street and Dufferin Park Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.聽
Ben Cohen/海角社区官网StarAt least 27 pole-mounted cameras have been knocked down this year, excluding reports of those cut on Tuesday, according to City of 海角社区官网spokesperson Laura McQuillan.
The city has also received more than 800 reports of vandalism involving all types of speed cameras this year, though most were minor incidents such as graffiti that didn鈥檛 require the cameras to be removed from service, she added.聽
“The City of 海角社区官网condemns all vandalism of these speed cameras,” McQuillan said. “Damaging these devices allows dangerous speeding to continue and undermines the safety of vulnerable road users, as all (Automated Speed Enforcement) devices are located in Community Safety Zones such as near schools, playgrounds and hospitals.”
海角社区官网police said they were investigating聽the 16 speed cameras聽that were damaged across the city overnight and are asking anyone with information to contact officers at 416-808-2222 or submit a tip to Crime Stoppers Anonymously at 416-222-8477.
Positioned south of Algonquin Drive, the Parkside Drive speed camera has been vandalized seven times in the past 11 months, with the most recent incident occurring over the weekend. Since November, the camera has been sawed down, drowned and stolen.聽
The Parkside speed camera has also been the source of over 70,000 tickets and $8 million in speeding fines for the city since it was installed in 2022.
A recent survey by CAA found nearly three-quarters of the 1,500 Ontario drivers it polled in March support the use of speed enforcement cameras.
A separate study by The Hospital for Sick Children and 海角社区官网Metropolitan University聽also found that automated speed cameras reduced the number speeding vehicles in city school zones by almost half.聽
Looking at 250 different school zones across 海角社区官网from July 2020 and December 2022 while measuring speeds before and after cameras went up, the study found that the overall percentage of cars speeding dropped by 45 per cent 鈥 and that speed cameras most improved the behaviours of the speediest of drivers.
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