Speeding on Parkside spiked 560% in year since speed camera removal: Safe Parkside
Posted September 16, 2026 1:03 pm.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford may have touted his “phenomenal relationship” with Olivia Chow while strongly insinuating his support for her in the upcoming municipal election, but the two still unapologetically butt heads on one issue — speed cameras.
Asked about new statistics from community advocacy group Safe Parkside that show a startling 560 per cent year-over-year increase in speeding on Parkside Drive since Ford’s automated speed enforcement (ASE) camera ban went into effect, the premier and mayor had markedly different, but predictable, responses.
“Put roundabouts and speed bumps,” Ford replied. “That guarantees to slow people down, simple as that. Speed cameras in my opinion — that’s a cash grab, they made a fortune.”
“Put speed bumps, we’re funding it, massive amounts, a couple of hundred million dollars around the province to make communities safe.”
Chow then stepped to the podium in defence of the technology.
“I’ve always said speed kills and we believe in speed cameras,” she said. “(We) are still pushing to see whether we can get our speed cameras back.”
Remarking on Ford’s suggestion that roundabouts and speed bumps can effectively replace the cameras, Chow reminded him that “there are arterial roads … that you cannot put speed bumps or roundabouts there because the firetrucks and ambulances will have trouble getting through them.”
‘A grim picture’: Safe Parkside
In a release Wednesday, Safe Parkside called the latest data culled from the City of Toronto’s “Watch Your Speed” electronic sign on Parkside both “frightening” and “predictable.”
The “Watch Your Speed” sign currently stands just metres from where the ASE camera used to, displaying and recording vehicle speeds. The speed data is made publicly available through the City of Toronto’s Open Data Portal.
Safe Parkside said that latest data “paints a grim picture on Parkside Drive: motorists driving at speeds of 60km/h and above, well over Parkside’s 40km/h posted speed limit, have increased by a frightening 560 per cent since Doug Ford’s senseless speed safety camera ban.”
The province passed legislation to ban the cameras in late October 2025 and began removing the cameras in mid-November.
The camera on Parkside came to symbolize the public’s frustration with the program, and was cut down a total of seven times.
While it was up, it issued 70,243 speeding tickets, dinging drivers for around $7.5 million.
The City of Toronto had 150 automated speed cameras before the provincial legislation came into effect, and there were plans to add more, especially in school zones and other hot spots.
The province pledged alternative funding of $210 million total, toward physical traffic-calming infrastructure like speed bumps, raised crosswalks, roundabouts, and large replacement signage.
Last week, the family of a Toronto boy who was left with life‑altering injuries after being struck by a vehicle outside his high school said they were suing the City, the province and the driver, alleging the collision occurred at a dangerous crossing where a speed camera had been removed months earlier.
