City of Toronto scrambles to track traffic tickets owed by its own employees
The City of Toronto is scrambling to figure out how much its employees owe in automated speeding and red light camera tickets after questions from CTV News Toronto.
The confusion is thanks to the way the city handled the $85,000 in tickets it issued over the past year to many of its own employees: it pays up front, and then tries to recover the cost from the worker behind the wheel.
At last count, the city could verify that $14,000 had been repaid — under 20 per cent — though the figures are in flux as staff reach out to the city’s divisions and agencies, which are individually responsible for enforcing the policy.
Amid questions from critics about whether all drivers are being treated equally by the automated cameras, Toronto Mayor John Tory says he’s ordered a fix to avoid the appearance of a “two-tiered" system.
“These numbers only came to my attention thanks to the good work of CTV News, and I’m not satisfied with them,” Tory told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
“We have to do a better job, they’re on it, finding a better way to make sure these fines are collected,” he said.
The speeding and red light tickets are issued almost automatically when a car is photographed breaking traffic rules — a necessary evil designed to make Toronto’s roads less deadly.
The city has issued about 200,000 automated speeding tickets and about 68,000 red light camera tickets since July 2020.
Many drivers pay to avoid consequences to their license or a lengthy appeal. The city says as the owner of the vehicle has to pay up front to avoid legal consequences down the road.
In 2020 and 2021, the City of Toronto said its drivers were issued $85,037 worth of tickets.
The city can confidently say it recovered $14,384.50 of that at this point. But that leaves about $70,652.50 outstanding.
Figuring out who drove a city vehicle is a bureaucratic headache because the city has thousands of vehicles and thousands of employees who might have been behind the wheel.
On top of that, city staff said the automated cameras are relatively new, and staff say it has been difficult to track tickets during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city said that it also has programs that focus on “awareness, promoting prevention and addressing critical issues such as repeat violators or high speed offenders rather than the monetary recoveries, which remain the responsibility of supervisors and staff.”
Jay Goldberg of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said if city workers aren’t consistently asked to pay their fines, then one incentive for driving safely is removed.
“If this is genuinely a question of public safety, then everyone across the board needs to be paying the same fines at the same rate,” he said.
City Councillor Stephen Holyday, whose ward was briefly the most-ticketed in the city by automated means, said he expects employees to be held accountable.
“It is my expectation that city workers are operating vehicles and equipment safety and according to the rules of the road. It’s important to set an example to the public.”
Some City of Toronto agencies operate differently than others. The Toronto Transit Commission told CTV News Toronto that it simply forwards its tickets to the driver and has no role in repayment.
The City of Toronto’s Fire Services said it had received nine red light tickets to date, which have all been forwarded to staff for payment directly.
Fire vehicles received 44 automatic speed enforcement tickets, worth $4,262.50, and it was appealing $2,311 worth of tickets on the grounds they were issued while the vehicle was responding to an emergency.
Paramedics appealed 33 out of 50 speeding tickets since August.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.