Not everyone in Toronto has been an avid supporter of the city's Automatic Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras, but one resident appears to be such a fan of the measure that they created a fake one in their own neighbourhood to try and trick drivers into slowing down.

Adopted in 2020 to help crack down on motorists on problem streets, the tech does seem to be actually forcing people to slow down — or at least, to avoid certain roads, even though the locations rotate — with just one unit issuing a whopping $3.6 million in tickets over a period of less than a year and half.

But, it has also served to piss some people off.

Not all heroes wear capes.

— Robert Ferrera (@BestDayEver369) September 10, 2024

A number of the cameras have been vandalized with spraypaint, toppled over, or otherwise destroyed over the years, whether by offending motorists or people simply opposed to the concept of the surveillance measure (and/or the government in general).

On the flip side is the aforementioned local in the West Rouge community, who decided that cars passing through their area of the city really need to cool it on the gas pedal.

Located on a street near Kingston Road and Port Union in Scarborough, the faux machine appears to be made of wood, put together and painted to look shockingly similar to an actual ASE camera from afar.

One person who spotted the roadside fixture shared a photo of it to a local community Facebook group, writing that it was "a first" for them.

"For the past week I [thought] I was crazy [for] thinking I saw a speed camera without any signage, and also because it is not always out on the lawn. But with closer inspection, it is clearly made out of plywood," the person wrote along with a photo of the "camera" last week.

The post has since garnered nearly 100 reactions and 50 or so comments, and has been reshared on other platforms.

A post in a Toronto Facebook group has exposed the apparent speeding camera as a fake.

"It's a scarecrow for speeders," one person commented, while others have called the dupe simply "impressive."

Others noted that it appears the person behind the project added graffiti to make it look like the real deal, while others joked that "he even knocks it over every now and then to make it more realistic."

One person who claims to live on the street provided some rationale for the installation, including the street's 40 km/hr speed limit and the fact that kids play on it.

"Due to construction on a neighboring street, it has somewhat turned into an arterial roadway... drivers go around 60-65 and everyone is distracted on phones and swerves all over the road," they wrote.

Resident in my neighborhood made their own fake speed camera
byu/bucajack intoronto

Unfortunately, whether the public likes it or not, the box technically could be considered against the law, as Chapter 950 of the Toronto Municipal Code states that "no person shall place, maintain or display upon or in view of any highway any sign, signal, marking or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an authorized sign, a temporary traffic control, a traffic control signal or other traffic control device."