Toronto's Parkside Drive speed camera cut down for 5th time in 6 months
Parkside Drive camera has issued over 65,000 tickets, more than $7M in fines since installation
For the fifth time in six months, the Parkside Drive speed camera in Toronto's west end has been cut down.
Faraz Gholizadeh, co-chair of the community group Safe Parkside, says the speed camera was taken down sometime Thursday night or early Friday.
As of Friday morning, the camera was removed from the area, and what remains is a cut off pole.
The speed camera was cut down twice in November. Then in December, vandals cut down the camera and dumped it into a nearby duck pond. The camera was then downed again in April.
Residents have long criticized the street as dangerous, citing heavy traffic and speeding drivers. Safe Parkside was formed in 2020, but residents have been calling on the city to make the street safer for over a decade, Gholizadeh said.
In October 2021, an older couple was killed when they were stopped at a red light on the street and a man driving at high speed collided with them.
That prompted the city to launch an ongoing study of the street, reduce the speed limit from 50 km/h to 40, as well as add speed cameras, new traffic signals and signs telling motorists to reduce their speed.
Since it was installed in April 2022, the camera has issued over 65,000 tickets and more than $7 million in fines, according to Safe Parkside.