Parkside Drive still tops list of Toronto's most ticketed roads, a year after speed camera rollout

A roadway in Toronto's west end continues to top the list of the most speeding tickets garnered in the city, nearly one year after a speeding camera was put in to deter dangerous driving. 

Since Toronto started its speeding camera program, which now consists of 75 cameras, drivers on Parkside Drive south of Algonquin Avenue racked up a whopping 24,556 speeding tickets from April 2022 to March of this year.

The advocacy group Safe Parkside says the roadway is the most ticketed and most profitable for the city in all of Toronto.

"The speed camera has done a much better job of letting people know how dangerous the street is rather than actually making it safe," said co-chair Faraz Gholizadeh.

Although Parkside Drive ranked highest for the number of tickets given, it also has the largest data set of the more than 300 intersections where the city has placed speeding cameras since the program started in summer of 2020.

Most cameras are placed on a given street for only a few months at a time, but the city kept the camera at Parkside to "improve compliance with the speed limit and reduce incidents of speeding," in a news release. The stretch of road has seen numerous deaths and accidents over the years, the group says.

That's why Gholizadeh says that while the sheer volume of tickets (which can be found here) show the camera may help deter some dangerous driving, it's not nearly enough to curb it entirely. The answer still lies with redesigning the road to make it tougher to speed in the first place, he says.

"The most effective tool is redesigning the street — not just Parkside, but any street in Toronto that has these issues."

Councillor defends camera program

Parkdale-High Park Coun. Gord Perks argues the data actually shows that the number of tickets issued have largely declined compared to when the camera was just installed. Tickets went from 3,586 in April to 1,553 in March, which to Perks shows the program is working. 

"It's a safer street than it was. But it's not yet a complete street, and we want to get that right."

On its website, the city is currently studying the stretch of road to "identify interventions" to improve safety and mobility with a focus on "people walking, cycling and other vulnerable road users."

Work to improve the roadway first started in 2021 — something Safe Parkside says was in response to the deaths of Fatima Avila, 69, and Valdemar Avila, 71, who died at the intersection of Parkside Drive and Spring Road on Oct. 12. Five vehicles were involved.

While changes have been made to the road — the speed limit has been reduced, more signage has been posted and additional traffic lights installed — progress has since lulled, the advocacy group says.

Perks says staff are expected to give an update on the progress made and a "refined set or proposals" on how to redesign the road in the next two or three months. He hopes jaded residents see the value of taking the time needed to redesign the street correctly.

"I share the frustration," said Perks, adding he's hoping a renewed Parkside Drive will have bike lanes and expanded sidewalks, at the least.

"But we have to remember when we change the configuration of the street, it's not just a matter of going and painting some lines ... I'd rather get the right answer than a wrong, dangerous answer quickly."

An issue to take to the polls

But Toronto resident Michael Schwanzer says waiting too long for change could be deadly. Around Christmas of 2021, he says, he and his children, ages five and three, narrowly escaped a dangerous accident. 

Schwanzer says he and his kids were crossing at a crosswalk at Parkside Drive and High Park Boulevard, when a vehicle made a sudden left. Fortunately, his kids were unhurt and he suffered only a scratched leg and a broken toboggan. But, he says, it could have been much worse. 

"It was a traumatic experience," said Schwanzer, who sought out Safe Parkside after the incident. 

Almost two years later, he says it's frustrating not much has changed. Now, he hopes people going out to the polls in the June byelection will keep in mind the broader issue of road safety. 

"Speeding down there is a bad choice and just having to pay a ticket for it isn't enough at some point," said Schwanzer.