"Toronto's speed cameras may be gone, but this time there are no mysterious vandals wielding power tools, no blurry suspect photos and no police investigation. As of the end of November, the cameras were taken down by the vendor who put them up for the city. The removals end Premier Doug Ford's crusade against the cameras, which he termed a "cash grab.""
"On an early fall evening in 2021, Valdemar Avila, 71, and Fatima Avila, 69, were sitting in rush-hour traffic on Parkside Drive, the busy road next to High Park. The road had a speed limit of 50 km/h, but 38-year-old Artur Kotula was doing more than double that in his BMW. The Burlington man drove his car into the back of the couple's small Toyota, crumpling it like spare paper. Valdemar died there."
As of the end of November the vendor removed all speed cameras installed in Toronto following the provincial government's decision to end the program. Premier Doug Ford labeled the cameras a "cash grab" and redirected funding, earmarking $210 million for municipalities to implement traffic-calming measures instead. The city had recently expanded the camera program after a deadly 2021 crash on Parkside Drive that killed Valdemar and Fatima Avila; the city lowered the speed limit and issued tens of thousands of camera tickets. Some cameras were targeted by vandalism in 2024–25, including one cut down and dumped in High Park's duck pond.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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