According to the latest figures, about 10 percent of the 23,163 tickets issued in September by the city’s Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) program came from speeding on Parkside Drive south of Algonquin Avenue.
In August, about nine percent of the 25,224 tickets issued were also related to speeding violations in that area.
Speeding in the lane east of High Park has proven to be a problem, and the ASE camera at that location has issued the most tickets of any machine in the city for five straight months.
The city released the data Wednesday while announcing the location of 25 new speed cameras slated to go into operation by February 2023.
These are in addition to the 50 cameras already in operation, 49 of which are currently rotating through their sixth cycle of locations to help reduce speeding in more areas of safety concern.
The only camera not moving locations is the one on Parkside Drive in an effort to “improve speed limit compliance and reduce speeding incidents” in that area, the city said.
Parkside Drive’s apparent problem with speeding was highlighted over the summer when police were dispatched to High Park to ticket cyclists who were traveling too fast on the 399-acre green space.
At the time, cyclists and supporters cried foul and pointed to Parkside Drive as the real problem, which Toronto police claimed had the ability to effectively police both areas.
The road was also the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on October 12 that left two dead and three others injured.
In that case, police said a BMW was driving “at a high rate of speed” when it hit a vehicle that was just moving through traffic.
REPEAT OFFENDERS TOP 1,100 IN SEPTEMBER
During September, according to the city, there were at least 1,118 “repeat offenders” recorded by various speed cameras across the city.
The first three offenders received a number of tickets each that month.
The first involved six speeding tickets on Park Lane Circle in North York, the second involved six speeding tickets on Mill Road in Etobicoke and the third involved four speeding tickets on Denison Avenue and two speeding tickets on Manning Avenue . downtown and downtown Toronto, respectively.
For context, in August there were 1,400 repeat offenders and the “most frequent repeat offender” received 12 speeding tickets on Brant Street south of Adelaide Street West.
Mayor John Tory said that despite the number of tickets speed cameras issue on a monthly basis, the devices “work” and “change driver behaviour”.
“We want everyone to be safe on our roads, and that’s why we’re expanding the city’s Automated Speed Enforcement program by adding 25 more cameras to the 50 already in operation across the city. This is another important step forward that will help save lives, enhance road safety and reduce speeding where it matters most,” he said in a statement.
To see a map of speed cameras currently in operation and the locations of future camera sites, click here.
