Toronto’s new speed camera initiative is a great idea, as long as it’s not too easy for idiots to tamper with them.

Last month the city began a rollout of 50 “automated speed enforcement cameras,” mainly in school zones, with two cameras for each of Toronto’s 25 wards as part of its Vision Zero program to improve pedestrian safety.

With an alarming number of pedestrians and cyclists killed last year, the city is under pressure to reduce speeding. Speed enforcement works, so the city initiated a program to place automated cameras that clock the speed of vehicles, mainly on secondary streets.

During the first 90 days of the program, warning notices will be mailed to registered owners of vehicles clocked at above the speed limit. After that, speeding tickets will be sent to vehicle owners, but no demerit points will be issued.

It’s an effective, low-cost way to enforce speed limits, but last week a camera near Fisherville Public School, on Patricia Ave. in North York, was vandalized with spray paint that covered the camera lens.

Local media reported that the camera was “unusable,” after it was coated with paint, which had me wondering if fiddling with them will become a trending topic for pinheads who’d make sport of thwarting their intent.

Here’s what makes it possible: The cameras are mounted at ground level and contained in a metal box that’s less than two metres high, a perfect height for anyone inclined to tamper with them.

If they were mounted on a pole, at least two metres off the ground, they’d be pretty hard to reach by anyone other that a stilt-walker, so I sent a note to the city, asking why they aren’t elevated.

STATUS: The reply was reasonable, but it doesn’t address the question of whether it’s too easy to fool around with them: “The city considered all placement solutions during the evaluation of the Request For Proposals for the automated speed enforcement devices. Given that the program is mobile in nature, the current vendor’s solution provides more flexibility and ease of deployment. The units are also weather, ballistic and spray-paint resistant. (With the recent incident, the spray paint was able to be removed easily). Elevating the units or mounting them on poles may introduce other challenges that could delay or affect operation of the program. That being said, staff continue to evaluate the program as it matures as well as research new and emerging technologies.” OK, but if more are tampered with, the next step should be to put them beyond the reach of yahoos.