Speeding has increased by over 200 per cent on Parkside Drive since the speed camera ban
Last year, Premier Doug Ford called speed cameras “a cash grab”
Speeding has surged by well over 200 per cent on Toronto’s Parkside Drive, according to data shared by community organization Safe Parkside. The data was analyzed to see whether the Ford government’s removal of speed cameras last year had an impact on how drivers operate their vehicles in the area.
“Today marks exactly six months since Doug Ford banned speed cameras from schools and parks across Ontario, a decision which brought an abrupt end to the Parkside Drive speed camera, Toronto’s most prolific and most vandalised speed camera,” the group said on its Instagram page yesterday. “Parkside residents along with communities all around the city and province are now dealing with the consequences of the ban.”
Related: A pedestrian was hit by a car on Parkside Drive last night
The west end street has long been at the centre of Toronto’s road safety debate. Its speed camera was cut down seven times in less than a year.
Based on the group’s data analysis, the number of vehicles traveling 60 kilometres per hour or more on Parkside, which is a 40 kilometre per hour Community Safety Zone, increased by 235 per cent during January - April 2026, compared to the same time period the previous year, when the speed camera was still present.
Before Premier Doug Ford decided to remove speed cameras, he called them “a cash grab.”
Co-chair of the organization, Faraz Gholizadeh, told CP24 that residents have attempted to reach the Ford government but have not heard back. “It’s entirely predictable that speeds would go up when you eliminate a safety feature as effective as a speed camera. It’s not surprising, what has happened. The most surprising part is that it’s through the act of our premier that we’re in this position,” Gholizadeh said.
A study published by SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University found that speed cameras had reduced speeding by 45 per cent in school zones and other safety priority areas. It also found that speed cameras slow the majority of drivers’ maximum speed by more than 10 kilometres per hour.
“Now speeding is on the rise and safety on the decline around our schools and parks, all thanks to Doug Ford,” Safe Parkside’s announcement said.
Related: Seven people have been charged following an OPP investigation into alleged driving test bribes
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.
