Parkside Drive speed camera reinstalled along with new surveillance camera

The Parkside Drive speed camera in Toronto’s west end, which was cut down for the fifth time in six months back in May, was reinstalled Wednesday, alongside the placement of a new surveillance camera.

CityNews was at the scene when the two cameras were installed.

City and police officials have not yet commented on why the surveillance camera was put in place.

The speed camera has been repeatedly targeted, first being cut down twice in November, with the second incident occurring just a day after it was reinstalled. It was again removed and thrown into a nearby duck pond in December.

As of late May, the speed camera issued 67,786 speeding tickets and generated $7,253,102 in fines.

Safe Parkside co-chair Faraz Gholizadeh has said the speed camera is the city’s busiest and most vandalized speed camera.

The Parkside Drive speed camera was installed after two seniors were killed in a multi-vehicle crash at the intersection of Parkside Drive and Spring Road on Oct. 12, 2021.

The speed camera is one of several that have been damaged across the city in the past couple of weeks. In one incident, police said the camera was facing a different direction and possibly could be accident-related.

“The City of Toronto is aware that several pole-mounted Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras were vandalized in recent days and is working with its vendor on solutions to prevent future incidents of vandalism,” a spokesperson said in a statement to CityNews last week.

The City condemned any vandalism of the speed cameras, saying tampering with one of the devices allows dangerous speeding to continue and undermines the safety of all users, especially those who are more vulnerable.

“ASE cameras are only installed in Community Safety Zones – areas near schools, hospitals, playgrounds and other locations frequented by vulnerable people,” read their statement.

Toronto police have since received other reports of damaged speed cameras, which are owned by Redflex Traffic Systems but operated by the City. They include these locations:

• Yonge Street and Glen Elm Avenue (June 25)
• Dufferin Street and Lindsey Avenue (June 26)
• Sheppard Avenue West and Seeley Drive (June 26)
• Avenue Road and Castlefield Avenue (June 30)
• Midland Avenue and Aylesworth Avenue (June 30)
• Ellesmere Road and Gladeside Road (June 30)

Police say no arrests have been made in any of the incidents.

With files from Meredith Bond and Lucas Casaletto, CityNews