Speed cams have cut speeding around Toronto schools nearly in half, new study finds
The study, published in the journal Injury Prevention and led by researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Metropolitan University, looked at the effect of automated speed enforcement cameras deployed across 250 school zones around Toronto from July 2020 to December 2022.
Looking at speeding data in these areas before and after speed cameras were installed, it found that cameras have reduced the proportion of speeding vehicles in urban school zones by 45 per cent.
"We had a very substantial reduction in the speed of the traffic, more than we were expecting to see," said the study's lead author, Dr. Andrew Howard, who is also head of orthopedic surgery for The Hospital for Sick Children.
"And what was especially pleasing about that was that the faster the cars were going, the greater the reduction in speed."
While the proportion of drivers going 10 km/h over the speed limits decreased by 74 per cent, the study found the proportion of drivers going 15 km/h over the limit decreased by 84 per cent. Drivers going 20 km/h or more over the limit fell by 88 per cent, the study found.
The study used pneumatic tubes, which are laid across the road and sense passing cars, to measure speeds in school zones before cameras were installed.Howard said every kilometre per hour counts in a collision.
"Little reductions in speed mean big reductions in kinetic energy. [That] can mean a difference, literally, between life and death at the type of urban speeds that we're looking at," he said.
"So getting that dangerous kinetic energy out of school zones is very important, and this is very promising."
The study noted that research was done in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, during "unprecedented disruptions" such as school closures, lockdowns and "significant changes in transportation patterns."
"These factors may have affected vehicle speed and volume," read the study. "The observed results, however, strongly argue that [automated speed enforcement] was the primary factor in the speed reductions."
Howard said he hopes reduced speeds in these zones will encourage more children to walk to school, helping to foster a habit of daily physical activity in their lives, which decreases many health risks in old age.
"That's the single most important thing that you can do for this population of kids to make them healthier," he said. "And what we do know is that if you've got more cars going fast around schools, you will have less children walking."
Speed cameras still prompting debate, vandalism
Nearly three-quarters of Ontarians support the use of automated speed enforcement, according to a recent CAA study. It also found 76 per cent of respondents believe cameras deter speeding.
Still, speed cameras in the city have been the source of much debate and backlash.
Earlier this year, Toronto doubled the number of automated speed cameras it uses to 150. But there have been 25 cases of vandalism to speed cameras between 2024 and July 23, 2025, the city told CBC Toronto earlier this week. Eleven of the city's cameras were vandalized in the first week of July alone, including one on Parkside Drive that's been cut down six times in eight months.
WATCH | Toronto speed cameras keep getting vandalized:
Anthony Perruzza, city councillor for Humber River-Black Creek, has said the city's speed camera program should be put on hold until September, calling them "speed traps." He later said he would work with Mayor Olivia Chow on amendments to a city report to the infrastructure committee on Vision Zero, Toronto's road safety strategy.
Council passed a motion last month to install larger, more visible signage around speed cameras, something Perruzza had been calling for. Later this year, a city committee will consider limiting how many tickets a driver can receive from a single camera before they get their first ticket in the mail.
The installation of speed cameras in school zones is part of Toronto's Vision Zero strategy, created in 2016 to eliminate all traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
NASCAR driver Aric Almirola blasts Austin Hill over 'intentional' crash: 'That was violent'
NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers Austin Hill and Aric Almirola got into a nasty wreck during the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Hill and Almirola were coming around a turn with 10 laps to go in the race. Almirola got into the back of Hill and sent him sliding up the track. Almirola tried to go around him, but Hill came down and sent Almirola spinning to the wall. Almirola hit the wall hard while Hill spun in the grass before coming back up the track and making contact with the wall as well. Hill was hit with a five-lap penalty because of the controversial hit. He told his team over the radio that it hadn't been intentional. Almirola disagreed. "It was definitely intentional," Almirola told the CW after being released from the infield care center, via "He blocked me three times. I finally got him loose in (Turn) 3. He had damage on the nose, so he was really slow in the corners. It was time to go. I mean, we're coming to nine to go, and the leaders are starting to put a gap on us, so it's time to go." Almirola was uninjured, but he said the crash reminded him of a 2017 wreck in which he had broken his back. "That was violent, to be totally honest," he added. "That's one of the hardest hits I've taken in my NASCAR career. The impact felt very similar to when I broke my back. I'd be very interested to see the black-box data from that crash, but it was vicious, and that's just uncalled for." Hill told his team he couldn't hang onto the car as he was getting loose. Team owner Richard Childress defended Hill and doesn't think he should be suspended over it. "(NASCAR) didn't do a damn thing to (Austin Cindric). He wrecked (Ty Dillon) and admitted to it, drove him in the right rear, and wrecked him at COTA," Childress said, via Motorsports Wire. "It's who you are. We're a blue-collar team. They give us trouble all the time." Connor Zilisch picked up the victory.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Tariffs and Japan Deal Could Encourage Toyota To Move Manufacturing Jobs Out of America
In This Article: Over the past few decades, Japan-based automaker Toyota has spent billions of dollars to expand its manufacturing and assembly plants in the United States. Those plants now employ over 64,000 people across North America and have churned out millions of vehicles. For politicians who fetishize blue-collar work, this ought to be tremendous news. Indeed, it also illustrates one of the underappreciated aspects of globalization and free trade: The flow of capital and goods often gets blamed for the outsourcing of American jobs overseas, but it also means the creation of jobs in America that are backed by investments from foreign firms. Now, however, the Trump administration seems to be trying to undo that. With a series of short-sighted tariff maneuvers, the president has effectively told Toyota (and other Japanese carmakers) that it should do more of its manufacturing in Japan and stop trying to create jobs in America. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced a new trade deal with Japan that will include a 15 percent tariff on Japanese goods, including imported cars. The details of the deal remain somewhat vague, but that's a significant discount compared to the 25 percent tariff the administration has imposed on cars imported from everywhere else. The reduced tariffs for Japanese cars are significant because of how that provision interacts with the Trump administration's other trade policies that are aimed at making it more expensive to manufacture cars in the United States. The president has imposed a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum (both of which are essential for automakers) and has slapped a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and car parts. Those tariffs are already dinging the profits of American carmakers—General Motors reportedly lost more than $1 billion in the second quarter of the year—and auto industry experts say they will raise prices, reduce demand for new cars, and generally make American cars less globally competitive. In short, the Trump administration is offering an incentive to import finished cars from Japan, while making it more expensive to buy the stuff you need to build cars in America. The 15 percent tariff on Japanese imports is "unfair for American automakers," who are facing a 25 percent tariff on auto parts and finished cars imported from Canada and Mexico, David Whiston, an analyst for market research firm Morningstar, told The Washington Post. Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, has also called it a " bad deal." So far, the White House has shaken off those complaints. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday that tariff complaints from the American auto industry were "just so silly" and repeated the Trump administration's claim that "there's no tariff if you build it in America." Story Continues
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
NIH cuts spotlight a hidden crisis facing patients with experimental brain implants
Carol Seeger finally escaped her debilitating depression with an experimental treatment that placed electrodes in her brain and a pacemaker-like device in her chest. But when its batteries stopped working, insurance wouldn't pay to fix the problem and she sank back into a dangerous darkness. She worried for her life, asking herself: 'Why am I putting myself through this?'
