Toronto's busiest speed camera cut down for 6th time in 8 months

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Installed after a horrific 2021 fatal crash, a busy west-end speed camera has once again been stolen from its perch — to the frustration of those who hoped it would make their neigbourhood safer.

For the sixth time in eight months, a speed enforcement camera on Parkside Dr. was cut down and stolen overnight, despite the installation of a second camera meant to deter further vandalism.

Safe Parkside co-chair Faraz Gholizadeh told the Toronto Sun he’s beyond frustrated.

“The camera was put there for safety purposes,” he said.

“Parkside is a 2-km street and this camera is at the end of Parkside … but there’s still lots of speeding on the street — they just slow down when they reach the camera.”

The camera was installed in reaction to a deadly October 2021 five-car crash that claimed the lives of Valdemar Avila, 71, and his wife Fatima, 69, after being rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Artur Kotula, 38, of Burlington — who’s serving a 6 1/2-year prison term.

Indeed, the Parkside camera quickly became the busiest automated speed enforcement device in the city — to date issuing nearly 69,000 tickets and generating over $7.3 million in fines.

“The frustration isn’t so much with the vandal, it’s with the City of Toronto for not doing more, for failing to address speeding on Parkside and letting speeding continue the way it has,” Gholizadeh said.

He said drag marks were found leading to a gate with the lock cut off, clearly where the culprit loaded the camera into a vehicle before departing.

As the camera’s theft is a criminal matter, a city spokesperson declined to comment and referred the Toronto Sun to police. Toronto Police said a report has yet to be filed on the incident and directed comment back to the city.

When pressed, the city spokesperson said they are working with the camera vendor and police on solutions.

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Automated cameras operated by the city are not owned by the city and the vendor is contractually obligated to replace the camera within 30 days at no cost to taxpayers.

Vandalism of the Parkside camera has become such a large problem that police installed a camera of their own late last month to ostensibly deter future vandals.

The Parkside camera has had a troubled history since its installation. The camera was first toppled on Nov. 18, 2024, just three days after city council approved a complete redesign of Parkside.

Reinstalled about a week later, the camera didn’t last 24 hours before it was again cut down.

Less than a month later on Dec. 29, the camera was again cut down and dragged 200 m through High Park, where it was found in a frozen pond.

On March 23, the camera was cut down for a fourth time, despite being reinstalled on a thicker pole. That camera lasted until April 19, when it was vandalized for a fifth time.

Gholizadeh said the time has come for the city to redesign Parkside, which despite the camera he said has become little more than a ruler-straight 2-km race track.

“People just feel comfortable driving fast on it … it’s like an urban highway,” he said.

“The city contends that it’s a community safety zone and yet it doesn’t meet any of their own minimum safety requirements for an arterial road.

“Only in Toronto would they do something like that and that’s where the frustration lies — they’ve done nothing other than the speed camera and speeding still continues. The numbers speak for themselves.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume