Toronto’s decision to eliminate municipal automated speed enforcement programs in November 2025 has led to a significant increase in speeding, with speeds rising at 101 of 104 locations studied. The report found that the average increase in operating speed across all locations was 4.8 km/h (3 mph).
While the statistic that’s drawn the most attention is a reported 380 to 480 percent increase in some categories of speeding, the reality is more complicated. The city’s largest increase involved drivers traveling 16 km/h (10 mph) or more above the speed limit on roads posted at 50 km/h (31.1 mph) or higher.
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During speed camera operation, this group accounted for just 0.5 percent of vehicles, but after the cameras disappeared, it increased to 2.9 percent. This translates to an increase of 2.4 percentage points, which sounds like barely a blip on the radar compared to the 480 percent increase.
According to the report, speeding increased at nearly every former camera location, with the biggest percentages coming from very small starting numbers. The statistics appear to show major changes when fatality data is murky.
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Infrastructure plays a significant role in speed reduction, and the conversation should shift from reckless drivers to road design, enforcement, and whether cities are using cameras to control speeds on roads engineered for entirely different driving behavior. The report demonstrates that drivers got 3 mph faster after cameras disappeared.
The debate surrounding speed cameras raises questions about whether they’re fixing driver behavior or compensating for infrastructure that encourages speeding in the first place. As the traffic calming measures are considered, it’s essential to examine the role of road design in speeding.
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Several experts and advocates pointed to the report as proof that removing cameras has made Toronto’s roads more dangerous, but the city’s own fatality data doesn’t really support that conclusion, at least not yet. The report’s findings deserve attention, but they don’t necessarily justify some of the rhetoric that followed.
Ultimately, the report successfully demonstrates that drivers got faster after cameras disappeared, but it doesn’t answer the bigger question of whether speed cameras are fixing driver behavior or compensating for infrastructure that encourages it. This conversation is worth having, and it’s far more interesting than a 480 percent headline.