Toronto’s new road safety effort has hit an unexpected snag — the replacement signs meant to slow down drivers in school zones are simply too big to fit on the city’s poles.
After Premier Doug Ford’s government recently ordered Toronto to remove its automated speed cameras, the province has begun supplying new signs for 20 school zones. The move was intended as a substitute safety measure, but the massive signs are turning installation into a logistical headache.
According to city spokesperson Kate Lear, Ontario will fund the installation of about 80 new signs — roughly four for each of the 20 selected school zones. The city is still pinpointing where exactly they’ll go. But when asked Wednesday, Mayor Olivia Chow made it clear the rollout isn’t going smoothly.
“The signs are too large to mount on existing poles — we’ll need completely new ones,” Chow explained. “The province has promised to pay for them.”
That may sound like a small hiccup, but the story runs deeper. Chow argues the real issue is the removal of the speed cameras themselves, which she believes were saving lives. The cameras didn’t just snap speeding tickets; their revenue also paid for crucial safety initiatives, including crossing guards and targeted police officers near schools.
Before the provincial order, Toronto had 150 speed cameras monitoring 641 school zones. Now, with cameras sidelined and new signs limited to just 20 zones, Chow isn’t optimistic about getting more. “Unless the province changes its plan, that’s all we’re getting,” she said plainly.
But Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation sees things differently. Dakota Brasier, the spokesperson for Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, said the city shouldn’t be surprised by the sign sizes. “We provided measurements and suggested pole sizes weeks ago,” she said, emphasizing that the province had offered both funding and installation assistance. Brasier added that Toronto has also received provincial funding for other safety tools, such as flashing lights and crossing guard programs.
The larger debate, however, is about whether speed cameras actually work. Premier Doug Ford has publicly said he doesn’t think they reduce speeding. He prefers alternatives like speed bumps, roundabouts, and flashing-light signage. But this stance is highly contested. Studies from municipalities and the Hospital for Sick Children show that speed cameras significantly lower the number of drivers speeding near schools. So who’s right — the politicians or the data?
There’s also a financial dimension to consider. Toronto’s speed cameras brought in more than $30 million in fines between January and August 2025 alone. With 126 mobile cameras and 24 permanently mounted ones now deactivated, the city has lost a major source of both safety and revenue. Mayor Chow has even warned that about 1,000 city jobs could be at risk because of the ban.
The real controversy lies in the trade-off: are oversized signs really a fair replacement for proven safety tech — or is this a case of politics overruling public safety?
What do you think — should cities have the autonomy to use speed cameras if the evidence supports their effectiveness, or should the province’s approach take precedence?
