Over 7,600 tickets were issued by Toronto's photo radar cameras during the first two weeks of ticketing.
50 cameras have been set up in Community Safety Zones near schools.
Of the thousands of tickets issued, 561 were repeat offenders; one driver got eight tickets over the two week span.
Renforth Drive near Lafferty Street (Ward 2 – Etobicoke Centre) is a hotspot for speeding where 12 per cent of all the tickets were issued. One driver got a ticket worth $718 after being clocked going 89 km in a 40 zone.
"It has been a problem area. When we did our pilot a year ago and even when we were doing the warning letters that was certainly one of the locations we saw a lot of high speeds. The good news is we're not seeing as high of speeds as we were seeing previously," says Mike Barnet with transportation services. "We had seen speeds in excess of over 100 km/h in nine sites and over these past two weeks we have not seen anyone exceeding 100 km/h."
While the number of tickets issued may seem alarming, when you put it in perspective it shows the cameras may be working. "Earlier in the year we issued about 25,000 warning letters over a six week period so we're under about one-third of that number which is good. Obviously these have more of an effect, these tickets," Barnet says.
There was a programming glitch by photo radar's vendor that sent out almost 300 tickets in error but those tickets have been cancelled and the problem has been fixed.
Residents who paid an erroneous ticket will receive a refund, or their payment will be returned. To inquire about payment refunds or returns, residents can send an email to poacourt@toronto.ca.