The City of Toronto says it has issued 7,645 speeding tickets between July 6 and 20 through automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras that have been installed across the city.
City officials said the highest speed was recorded in Etobicoke on Renforth Drive near Lafferty Street where a vehicle clocked 89 km/h in a 40 km/h posted zone.
The fine for that offence resulted in a $718 ticket for the vehicle owner.
The Renforth Drive ASE camera also issued 890 tickets which is the most tickets a single camera has given out, and represents 12 per cent of all tickets.
If a vehicle is caught speeding by an ASE, an image of the vehicle will be captured and stored in the system. The images will be reviewed and then tickets will be issued and mailed to the owner of the vehicle, regardless of who was driving, within 30 days.
If convicted, the only penalty is a fine, no demerit points will be issued and the registered owner’s driving record will not be impacted, the city said.
ASE cameras were first approved by the Ontario government in December 2019 on the condition that warning signs be posted for 90 days to give drivers the heads up that a camera was going to be installed on a street. Due to COVID-19, issuing tickets by mid-March was delayed but Toronto announced it would be mailing out tickets to drivers starting on July 6.
Toronto installed 50 cameras across the city, two units for each of the 25 wards, that can be moved around depending on the need. There is signage ahead of each camera so that drivers are aware they are there, the City said.
According to data from the first two weeks, which officials note takes about 10 days to process and report, there were 591 repeat offenders when it came to being caught by the cameras.
The City of Toronto said the most frequent repeat offender was mailed eight speeding tickets from the Trehorne Drive camera, near Duffield Road, in Etobicoke’s Ward 2.
City officials also note some cameras erroneously issued tickets after incorrect speed limit programming among other technological glitches. The City said it has corrected the error and will give refunds to residents who paid.