This camera camera gets tons of speeders. They dragged it across the park to dump it in the pond.
Vandals have taken down the Parkside Drive speed camera in Toronto for the third time in recent weeks before dumping it into a nearby duck pond.
The speed camera, which garners some of the most speeding tickets in the city, was cut down twice in November — the second time coming a day after it had been reinstalled.
Faraz Gholizadeh, a local resident and co-chair of community advocacy group Safe Parkside, said the camera was taken down for a third time sometime in the last week. This time, whoever cut it down has "taken it to another level."
Track marks through High Park show it was dragged from Parkside Drive through the park before being thrown into the duck pond, where it currently remains.
"This time they decided to make it more difficult, more challenging, send more of a message that they don't approve of this speed camera," Gholizadeh said.
Some Parkside residents were baffled by the intensity of this latest vandalism.
"The will to have to climb up and cut it off and not just tear it down but then bring it to the pond and throw it onto the ice, it's like a mob hit on a traffic camera. It's insane," said Chris Smets.
A spokesperson for the City of Toronto said the speed enforcement cameras in the city are a vendor-provided service and aren't owned by the municipality, so the vendor would be responsible for replacing and fixing the Parkside Drive camera.
However, the city is looking into ways to prevent vandalism to the cameras, such as installing remote monitoring, the spokesperson said.
CBC News reached out to the vendor that owns the camera Monday.
Despite the repeated vandalism, the speed enforcement cameras aren't going anywhere, said Barbara Gray, Toronto's general manager of transportation services.
In fact, the city plans to have an additional 75 installed throughout Toronto, 25 of which will be permanent, she said Monday.
"We know they're effective, we know they have an impact on safety and speed, and that's why we have them in the first place."
Safety concerns remain
The Parkside Drive camera netted 1,759 tickets in October, with only two other speed cameras catching more drivers speeding over the limit in Toronto that month, according to city data.
It was installed in April 2022 to address residents' safety concerns about the high-traffic street following a collision a year earlier that killed an older couple.
Gholizadeh said it's frustrating to see the camera being targeted over and over again since it's meant to help make the area safer. However, he said the speed camera alone won't fix the street's safety issues and wants the city to make physical changes to the road.
"It's unfortunate that this keeps happening, but the most unfortunate thing is that our city isn't doing more to make the streets safe because a camera that keeps getting chopped down isn't helping," he said.
"Even when it's up, it's not helping that much. We need much more safety and we need it now."
In November, Toronto city council voted to endorse a plan to add new bike lanes to Parkside Drive as part of a larger plan to make the street safer.
The plan also includes adding intersection safety improvements at Lake Shore Boulevard W. and Bloor Street W., new and updated bus stops, and designated turning lanes at intersections.
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Vandals have taken down the Parkside Drive speed camera in Toronto for the third time in recent weeks before dumping it into a nearby duck pond.
The speed camera, which garners some of the most speeding tickets in the city, was cut down twice in November — the second time coming a day after it had been reinstalled.
Faraz Gholizadeh, a local resident and co-chair of community advocacy group Safe Parkside, said the camera was taken down for a third time sometime in the last week. This time, whoever cut it down has "taken it to another level."
Track marks through High Park show it was dragged from Parkside Drive through the park before being thrown into the duck pond, where it currently remains.
"This time they decided to make it more difficult, more challenging, send more of a message that they don't approve of this speed camera," Gholizadeh said.
Some Parkside residents were baffled by the intensity of this latest vandalism.
"The will to have to climb up and cut it off and not just tear it down but then bring it to the pond and throw it onto the ice, it's like a mob hit on a traffic camera. It's insane," said Chris Smets.
A spokesperson for the City of Toronto said the speed enforcement cameras in the city are a vendor-provided service and aren't owned by the municipality, so the vendor would be responsible for replacing and fixing the Parkside Drive camera.
However, the city is looking into ways to prevent vandalism to the cameras, such as installing remote monitoring, the spokesperson said.
CBC News reached out to the vendor that owns the camera Monday.
Despite the repeated vandalism, the speed enforcement cameras aren't going anywhere, said Barbara Gray, Toronto's general manager of transportation services.
In fact, the city plans to have an additional 75 installed throughout Toronto, 25 of which will be permanent, she said Monday.
"We know they're effective, we know they have an impact on safety and speed, and that's why we have them in the first place."
Safety concerns remain
The Parkside Drive camera netted 1,759 tickets in October, with only two other speed cameras catching more drivers speeding over the limit in Toronto that month, according to city data.
It was installed in April 2022 to address residents' safety concerns about the high-traffic street following a collision a year earlier that killed an older couple.
Gholizadeh said it's frustrating to see the camera being targeted over and over again since it's meant to help make the area safer. However, he said the speed camera alone won't fix the street's safety issues and wants the city to make physical changes to the road.
"It's unfortunate that this keeps happening, but the most unfortunate thing is that our city isn't doing more to make the streets safe because a camera that keeps getting chopped down isn't helping," he said.
"Even when it's up, it's not helping that much. We need much more safety and we need it now."
In November, Toronto city council voted to endorse a plan to add new bike lanes to Parkside Drive as part of a larger plan to make the street safer.
The plan also includes adding intersection safety improvements at Lake Shore Boulevard W. and Bloor Street W., new and updated bus stops, and designated turning lanes at intersections.
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