Toronto's automated speed enforcement cameras have issued millions of dollars in tickets and do actually cause drivers to slow down, but the rollout of the road safety tool in and around the city hasn't come without its hiccups and apparent backlash from the public.

Since they started popping up at various locations a few years ago, the expensive tech has been strategically avoided by some residents and outright vandalized by others. Units have been spotted tipped over, smashed, spray-painted and more to prevent them from properly functioning.

(One even had the word "no" written across it, an apparent indication of some citizens' sentiment about the machines.)

It seems that this issue is only getting worse, too, leaving many worried about increased costs to the City, which pays around $50,000 per year to operate and maintain each device.

Someone sabotaged Toronto's most notorious speed camera and locals are fuming https://t.co/Asp7U5cZEX

— blogTO (@blogTO) May 1, 2024

In sharing new evidence of the destruction of one of Toronto's ASE cameras on Reddit this week, one resident prompted a flurry of stories of similar cases from the region.

"Here is a speed camera that has been knocked down a few times. The City crew has chained it to a post and bolted it down on a platform. But I see that possibly someone may have already tried to block the cameras with tape," the individual wrote on Tuesday, along with a photo of the machine, which looks quite worse for wear.

In an update on Sunday, someone else shared that a passerby had taken a baseball bat or some sort of blunt instrument to the same camera, putting it out of use. Based on the comments and City-provided stats, this type of incident is unfortunately not at all rare.

Speed Camera vandalism
byu/Signal_Tomorrow_2138 intoronto

"The locals first spray-painted them and then used a skid steer or tractor to move them well away from their original locations," one person from Waterdown, Ontario, said of their town's cameras.

"I drive past one on Burnhamthorpe and it's regularly knocked over or spray-painted," said a resident of Mississauga.

Another from Scarborough said their neighbourhood camera at Markham and Lawrence "kept getting vandalized and was permanently removed."

Others added that even the newer cameras installed high up on poles to prevent this kind of issue have been unofficially cut down and otherwised screwed with in places like Grimsby, Vineland and Lincoln, Ontario.

An update to the speed camera posted last week
byu/DoodyTwoShoes intoronto

A spokesperson for Toronto tells blogTO that 408 reported instances of ASE camera tampering were reported in 2022, which more than doubled to 851 in 2023.

However, they noted that 50 percent more boxes were in action in 2023 than in 2022 (75 vs. 50) and that "there may also be instances where one incident of vandalism was reported multiple times."

Also, the City doesn't actually incur any costs associated with fixing the equipment — it's covered by the camera company as part of the vendor-provided service. The case is the same in other municipalities, like Niagara, where associated costs are built into the contract.

The City of Toronto adds that anyone who spots a damaged camera should report it to 311 and that "tampering with, damaging or stealing an ASE device negatively impacts road safety and allows dangerous speeding to continue near vulnerable road users.

Additionally, the Toronto Police Service is notified in each case.