The City of Toronto’s 50 Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) devices are currently rotating to the next round of locations to help reduce speeding at more areas with safety concerns, encourage a wide-ranging deterrent effect and raise public awareness about the need to slow down and obey posted speed limits.
This will be the fifth round of locations since the beginning of enforcement in July 2020. As per provincial requirements, warning signs were installed at all new locations to warn drivers in advance. The 50 new locations are:
In January, the devices issued a total of 21,681 tickets, with the device on Beverley Street north of D’Arcy Street (University-Rosedale) issuing the most tickets at 2,772, or 13 per cent of all tickets. According to the data, there were 1,632 repeat offenders in January with the most frequent repeat offender receiving 14 tickets for speeding on Cathedral Bluffs Drive south of Kingston Road (Scarborough Southwest).
In February, the devices issued a total of 25,666 tickets, with the device on Beverley Street near D’Arcy Street (University-Rosedale) issuing the most tickets at 4,952, or 19 per cent of all tickets. According to the data, there were 1,788 repeat offenders in February with the most frequent repeat offender receiving 9 tickets for speeding on Arlington Avenue south of Durham Avenue (Toronto-St. Paul’s).
In March, the devices issued a total of 27,290 tickets, with the device on Avenue Road south of Caribou Road (Eglinton-Lawrence) issuing the most tickets at 2,826, or 10 per cent of all tickets. According to the data, there were 1,963 repeat offenders in March with the most frequent repeat offender receiving 11 tickets for speeding on Beverley Street near D’Arcy Street (University-Rosedale).
The ASE devices issued 15,687 tickets in October, 11,516 tickets in November and 27,188 tickets in December. The full enforcement data for these months is available on the City’s website.
The total payable fine amount includes a set fine, which is determined by Schedule D under the Provincial Offences Act, a victim fine surcharge and applicable court costs. ASE tickets do not incur any demerit points and do not affect a person’s driving record.
The City continues to process Part III offences for excessive speeding incidents captured by the ASE devices. Excessive speeding is when a vehicle has exceeded the speed limit by 50 km/h or more. Under provincial regulations, there is no Set Fine or out-of-court settlement for charges related to excessive speeding. Instead, a summons is served to the registered vehicle owner to appear in court.
To date, 421 Part III charges have been laid since the start of enforcement on July 6, 2020. The highest excessive speed detected was 146 km/h in a 50 km/h speed limit zone on Martin Grove Road north of Garfella Drive (Etobicoke North).
All ASE locations are selected primarily based on data that indicate where speed and collision challenges exist. Each ward has two ASE devices that capture and record images of vehicles travelling in excess of the posted speed limit.
The ASE program aims to increase road safety, reduce speeding and raise public awareness about the need to slow down and obey posted speed limits. It is designed to work in tandem with other Vision Zero methods and strategies, including engineering measures, education initiatives and traditional police enforcement.
More information about the program, how to pay fees and a map of all current and planned locations are available at toronto.ca/ASE.
Quotes:
“Reducing speeding and reckless driving continues to be one of the City’s top road safety priorities, and we know that Automated Speed Enforcement is an essential, data-driven tool that is effective in changing driver behaviour and protecting our vulnerable road users. We know that when these speed cameras go up, drivers slow down. We’re also continuing to implement other Vision Zero interventions across the city, such as Pedestrian Head Start Signals, road design changes, speed limit reductions, street illumination upgrades, in addition to proactive enforcement by the Toronto Police Service.”
– Mayor John Tory
“We’re rotating all speed cameras to new hot spots to keep encouraging drivers to slow down and respect the posted speed limit, especially near our school communities.”
– Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Scarborough-Rouge Park), Chair of the Infrastructure and Environment Committee