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
Stamp prices rise for the third time in five years amid financial woes for Canada Post
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
BREAKING Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, claims he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women in Winnipeg, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Trudeau Liberals to unveil new bill Monday aimed at countering foreign interference
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be tabling legislation on Monday aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. Federal officials have scheduled a technical briefing on the incoming bill for Monday afternoon.
WATCH Avian flu: Risk to humans grows as outbreaks spread, warns expert
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Human remains were found at a former Hitler base, but decay prevents determining the cause of death
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during the Second World War because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.
Italy's white-collar mafia is making a business killing
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
Ontario MPP asked again to leave Ontario legislature over keffiyeh, Speaker loosens ban
An Ontario MPP was asked again to leave the Ontario legislature on Monday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that was banned by the Speaker last month due to its political symbolism.
The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Trump fined US$1,000 for gag order violation in hush money case as judge warns of possible jail time
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him US$1,000 on Monday for violating his gag order once again and sternly warned the former president that additional violations could result in jail time.