this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2025
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A spectre is haunting Canadian roads: the real prospect of actually having to pay a fine for not respecting the speed limit. As speed cameras proliferate, particularly in Ontario, some drivers are showing their displeasure. Many of the cameras have been vandalized and one in Toronto cut down six times.

It’s time for a deep breath.

Speed cameras shouldn’t disappear, they should multiply. The cameras are effective and, because their penalty is so easily avoided, they are fair.

...

In fact, a recent poll for CAA showed majority support among Ontarians for the cameras. Politicians who pander to the minority of drivers who hate them are gambling with public safety.

Those politicians span the ideological spectrum, from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford to former Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, now mayor of suburban Vaughan, and left-leaning Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

So busy trying to placate drivers, these politicians ignore that speed cameras work. The hit in the wallet is sufficiently unpleasant that it convinces people to slow down. For evidence, consider that the number of tickets issued by any given camera typically goes down over time.

That effect has been further demonstrated by research from a hospital and university in Toronto. According to their findings, referenced in a recent city staff report, the proportion of vehicles speeding went down 45 per cent after cameras were installed near schools and in high-collision areas.

...

A person hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 kilometres an hour has a 90-per-cent chance of surviving. Increase the speed to 40 kilometres an hour, though, and the survival rate drops to 60 per cent. A person hit at 50 kilometres an hour has only a 20-per-cent chance of living.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-sorry-speed-cameras-arent-the-problem/

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Of all the fucked up technologies police and governments are using, many of which have terrifying abuse potential, this is the one people complain about.

[–] nyan@lemmy.cafe 3 points 7 hours ago

When you get right down to it, the lack of teleport booths is the problem. People see time spent in transit between A and B as time wasted, so the natural instict is to try to shorten it at any cost. As usual, this is modified by the tendency for humans to have really poor risk-assessment abilities.

[–] droopy4096@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

effective city planning would be better like a lot better. Having environmental clues and enforcement techniques is way more effective as it prevents and not punishes. Person injured from speeding incident is not going to be saved by $500 or whatever fine. When driver physically feels unsafe crossing certain speed limit - there's no reason to monitor or fine him/her. "More cameras" is a cheap brand bandaid that peels off two hours later. It is trying to save people "after the fact", when it's way too late

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 0 points 7 hours ago

I completely agree. But we've got a bunch of existing roads, and we need to deal with the existing infrastructure. New roads should be built more intelligently (ideally prioritizing walking or cycling, and transit before single occupancy vehicles) to do exactly as you say.

[–] Idontopenenvelopes@lemmy.world 13 points 16 hours ago

Speed cameras aren't the problem, but implementation is. When you're 5km over, well within variation of seasonal tire size difference impact on speedometer, and variations in acceleration/deceleration and road incline changes, and you get dinged not only for each of the kms you are over , but also get charged victim surcharges and administrative surcharges and a fuck you surcharge. Before it's all said and done the surcharges make it a $100. When the surcharges are more than 70-80% of your ticket it's an indiscriminate money grab.

[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 8 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

A friend of mine was literally ripped apart a few weeks ago on his motorcycle. He was hit by a speeding texter. He lost his leg, his eye, had facial reconstruction both his arms And remaining leg are in traction. Won’t be out until October. I was for speed cameras before his accident. Even more so now.

I do wish they would be more wary of Cameras at traffic lights due to asshat peops who keep turning on left way past the light changing making it look like you ran it not the asshat.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)
[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Abso-fucking-lutely. Speed cameras fix nothing, least of all at the time of speeding. No demerits, no suspensions, just another bill to pay like parking tickets. And if they figure out where the speed camera is, it's good for about 100m of coverage.

I've never seen so many unjustified justice boners as !Canada@lemmy.ca over radar cameras.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Holy crap. That's horrific. I hope your friend recovers as much as possible.

[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 5 points 14 hours ago

Thanks. I finally got to speak to him for the first time today. I am not able to go visit him as I don’t have a vehicle to go visit and have ailments of my own which limit my mobility greatly. We are both around 70. He is feisty to say the least, I think he will do well in his rehab. Hopefully, he sues the ever loving fuck out of the guy and gets a shit ton of money so he can go retire on a island somewhere and live the Life of O’Reilly for the rest of his days.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Problem with speed cameras is they don't stop speeding. People know where they are and they slow down for before them and then speed up after. Also getting a ticket is weeks later. Getting pulled over is much more effective and people actually change their driving habits.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 hours ago

According to the article:

That effect has been further demonstrated by research from a hospital and university in Toronto. According to their findings, referenced in a recent city staff report, the proportion of vehicles speeding went down 45 per cent after cameras were installed near schools and in high-collision areas.

I'd love to see cops (or whatever) out enforcing speed limits, but for whatever reason, that doesn't seem to happen. Until police start instantly enforcing limits, I'm fine with a technological fix.

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 21 points 18 hours ago (4 children)

OK, so what's the argument against using other traffic calming measures that don't steal money from people, and are just as, if not more, effective instead?

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 4 hours ago

When it's the government, it's not considered stealing.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 13 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds good. Let's do that too!

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 18 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Flat fines mean it's only a crime for the poor

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Fines should be proportional to assets and income.

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

They should be. But they aren't.
Which is especially egregious with the terrible investment in public transportation. You want poor people to stop speeding? Give them a decent alternative to cars.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 hours ago

You're right, we definitely need better public transport.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Mostly the financial cost and labor of installation. 2 people and a truck can install cameras and maintain them for relatively cheap compared to redesigning and resurfacing a road.

[–] cyborganism@piefed.ca -1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah but the camera system can be abused to the detriment of the population. They can be modified to give tickets even when no law was broken.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

That's no different than a cop smashing your taillight to give you a ticket.

[–] cyborganism@piefed.ca 0 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Yep. Except you'd have a hard time proving it. I remember a story of a New York man who fought against a traffic light camera because he said it was tricked to give out more tickets. And he was right.

[–] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

From your link, it sounds like the camera wasn't tricked at all and was working perfectly as intended, the city just modified the programming of a nearby traffic light to shorten the length of time the light was yellow so that more people technically ran red lights that the camera then recorded. That's a completely different, yet related, thing.

[–] cyborganism@piefed.ca -1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Either way, I'm sure you get my point.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I don't. All tools can be abused.

[–] cyborganism@piefed.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

How is a municipal government or authorities going to abuse speed bumps, narrow streets, or other physical deterrents for speeding compared to electronic devices, pray tell?

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago

Perhaps, but it's much harder to abuse a speed bump for nefarious purposes.

[–] grey_maniac@lemmy.ca 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 12 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Lane width restriction is my preferred method, but speed bumps are probably even more guaranteed to be effective.

[–] Medic8teMe@lemmy.ca 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Roundabouts are awesome. People are still idiots however.

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think you just have to commit to it. It's only a problem when people are unfamiliar with them. Once They're exposed enough, they'll get the hang of em pretty quickly. They just need to be fairly ubiquitous.

[–] Medic8teMe@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

We have a lot of them where I live now. They keep them single lane in most places. This is good. There is one major 4 lane and it's a nightmare most days. Been in place for over 50 years and most still don't understand it.

I still think they're great and effective as well.

[–] cyborganism@piefed.ca 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Speed bumps hinder emergency vehicles though.

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

They also increase noise in the neighborhood due to constant breaking ne acceleration. But tree, narrowing of streets and intersections, etc are all very effective and overall greatly improve residents quality of life.

[–] cyborganism@piefed.ca 0 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Oh man, yeah. I didn't think about it initially, but I used to live in front of a nasty bump in the street. Trucks that passed by would rattle and slam every time they passed on it. It was so loud it woke me up at night.

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Yup, they added bumps on my street at some points for God knows what fucking reason. McQueen sometimes has weird ideas. It was completely useless because it's already INCREDIBLY tight, there's no way to go more than 5kmh above the 30kmh speed limit. Right in front of my apartment, it seriously increased the noise level.

I think, on paper, it was a compromise because the street is so tight that they couldn't do those bump outs at the intersection, but truly it didn't need it.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

Speed bumps can be designed to accommodate emergency vehicles.

[–] belathus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 15 hours ago

A few years ago in Washington DC, a section of a highway had a speed camera installed and they reduced the speed limit from 55mph to 35mph. The area was also marked as a construction zone. The only indication of these changes was a single speed limit sign with a small construction zone sign right above it, and the camera was immediately after it, so if you weren't already at 35mph by the time you passed the camera, you get a ticket. There was no construction for several miles either; no cones, no workers, nothing.

I was returning home fom a service call at 3 am when this camera dinged me. I was going 55mph, and the ticket was $270. Since I was driving a company vehicle, my company didn't give me the chance to fight it, not that I could've ... the "judge" for these fines was an employee of the company that owned the camera, and they reportedly always sided with the company. This camera was noted to be the most profitable camera in the United States at the time. Hopefully Canada doesn't outsource their traffic cameras.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

Legit first time I've seen someone argue in favor of speed cameras. Fuck speed cameras.