Someone Is Stealing Toronto's New Speed Cameras

A pilot program that installed 50 speed cameras near schools in Toronto would only send warnings to scofflaws, but someone is stealing the cameras anyway.

1 minute read

June 30, 2020, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Red Light Camera

Nicholas Eckhart / Flickr

"Four of Toronto’s speed cameras have been stolen before the devices can even start generating tickets, complicating the rollout of a controversial technology that safety advocates warn is too concentrated on quiet local roads," reported Oliver Moore in February. Moore reports this week via Twitter that another of the cameras have been stolen.

The four stolen cameras are part of a pilot program that has installed 50 cameras "near schools in a six-month pilot project to assess their impact on road safety," according to Moore's article in February. "Each has a warning sign nearby, and for the first three months, speeding drivers will get cautionary letters instead of tickets."

The article includes a lot more detail about the road conditions of the locations selected for the pilot program, and the politics of traffic safety in Toronto.

An article by Aaron Gordon, shared by Planetizen earlier this month, connects the opposition and backlash against automated traffic law enforcement to the ongoing conversation about the racial disparities in police enforcement of traffic safety.


Monday, June 29, 2020 in The Globe and Mail

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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