Doug Ford’s cabinet ministers are getting a lot of speeding tickets
Are speed cameras to blame?
Well, isn’t this interesting...
Premier Doug Ford has been rather aggressive about speed cameras lately, going so far as to call them “nothing but a tax grab” despite their effectiveness—a July study from SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University found that speed cameras have reduced speeding by 45 per cent in Toronto’s school zones and other safety priority areas. The study also found that speed cameras reduce the majority of drivers’ maximum speed by more than 10 kilometres per hour. In a city of quite frankly terrible drivers, why wouldn’t we want safer roads?
Related: No one hates speed cameras more than Doug Ford
A Global News investigation published today uncovered that vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers have been caught by speed cameras more than 20 times. One cabinet minister, according to Global, got hit with a $450 fine for going 70 in a 40.
It’s not known who the drivers were, as that information was redacted in the documents obtained by Global through freedom of information request, but the story says vehicles of Ford cabinet ministers received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding over the course of three years.
Back in 2019, Ford amended provincial policy to allow speed camera installation. Last month, he announced plans to table legislation banning municipalities from operating them altogether.
Probably just a coincidence!
Related: “Who is this city for?"—Meet the performance artist calling out bad drivers and condo developers
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
