Two years ago, a curious thing happened at the intersection of Richmond and Parliament Sts.

The city replaced the corner’s red-light camera with a newer model and, after lowering the speed the limit on Richmond St., reduced the duration of the amber light to three seconds from 3.3 seconds, giving drivers slightly less time to clear the intersection.

What followed was a big jump in tickets issued through the red-light camera program at that one intersection — from an average of about 30 per month in the first half of 2017 to about 635 per month in the second half.

In 2018, the number of tickets issued from that intersection reached more than 6,000 — making it the No. 1 intersection for red-light camera charges in the city.

In total, the number of charges issued through Toronto’s red-light camera program rose to almost 90,000 last year — and the figure is only expected to increase as the city installs more of the devices under its rebooted road safety plan.

According to city statistics, evidence captured by the cameras resulted in 89,079 charges in 2018, up from 60,484 in 2017, a 47-per-cent increase.

Transportation services spokesperson Eric Holmes said the citywide spike was mostly attributable to the deployment of additional cameras in recent years. The city installed 70 new devices over the course of 2017 and 2018, which nearly doubled their number. By the end of last year there were 149 of them at locations throughout the city.

But Holmes said improvements in camera technology were also a factor. Starting in 2016, older-model devices were swapped out for newer versions that are “much better at gathering evidence under inclement weather conditions,” which resulted in more charges, he said.

For the second year in a row, the camera that led to the most charges was the Richmond-Parliament intersection, which is at the end of an overpass that serves as an entry to downtown from the high-speed Don Valley Pkwy.

With 6,615 charges, that one intersection accounted for more than 7 per cent of all tickets issued through red-light cameras last year.

Data provided by the city show that camera saw a big increase in charges starting in mid-2017, which Holmes said was likely related to the installation of the new generation of cameras, but also noted that around July 2017 the city lowered the speed limit on Richmond St. west of Parliament St. from 50 km/h to 40 km/h.

Following provincial guidelines, the city also reduced the duration of the amber light at the intersection to match the lower speed by 0.3 seconds.

“So the spike from June to July 2017 could be partially attributed to both the new camera being installed as well as the reduced speed limit/amber light timing,” Holmes said in an email.

Red-light cameras automatically capture the image of a vehicle if it enters an intersection after the light has turned red. The devices aren’t triggered if a car is already in the intersection when the signal changes, such as when drivers are waiting to turn left.

An officer reviews the image before issuing a ticket, which comes with a $325 fine. Because the photos can’t prove who was driving the vehicle at the time, the ticket is sent to the vehicle owner and no demerit points are issued.

According to the city, staff choose locations for the cameras based on traffic statistics that include speed and collision data.

More cameras are coming. In July, council approved a proposal to double the number of the devices again, to 298, as part of Vision Zero 2.0, the second iteration of its road safety plan aimed at eliminating traffic deaths. Council approved the new five-year, $123-million road safety plan amid concern the original version, passed in 2016, wasn’t doing enough to curb fatalities.

Mayor John Tory has strongly backed the camera program’s expansion, which is set to start next year.

“The mayor fully supports catching and penalizing drivers who clearly disregard pedestrian safety,” said Tory’s spokesperson Don Peat in a statement.

“Running a red light is incredibly dangerous and we know from city staff that the cameras help us catch that behaviour when it happens, and we know the presence of these cameras does discourage many drivers from running a red light in the first place.”

Last year, at least 42 pedestrians and five cyclists were killed in Toronto, which appeared to be a one-year high, according to figures tracked by the Star. As of Friday, at least 20 pedestrians had been killed this year.

The Star’s count differs from official numbers released by the police, because the force doesn’t count deaths on provincial highways in the city or on private property.

According to the city, red-light cameras are effective at reducing serious collisions. Data collected between 2008 and 2014 shows injuries at intersections where the devices were installed decreased by 23 per cent, and fatal collisions fell by 40 per cent.

There’s little opposition to expanding the program, even among drivers’ advocates.

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“It’s very clear that running a red light is not acceptable,” said Elliott Silverstein, manager of government relations for the Canadian Automobile Association’s South Central Ontario chapter.

“It’s not something that should be tolerated and I think that it’s important that measures are being taken.”

However, Silverstein said the goal of red-light cameras should be to correct driver behaviour, not generate revenue through tickets. He argued that to discourage red light running, locations of cameras should be clearly marked.

Roger Browne, acting director of the city’s traffic management centre, said his department does everything it can to publicize where the cameras are. That includes posting signs approaching intersections where cameras are installed, publishing their locations online, and even providing their co-ordinates to the navigation app Waze, which alerts drivers if one of the devices is on their route.

“We want everyone to know where these cameras are,” Browne said. “We’re not trying to trick people.”

In some cases however, even notifying the public of a camera’s presence doesn’t prevent a high number of drivers from running red lights, as evidenced by the almost 20 charges a day issued at Richmond-Parliament.

Amanda O’Rourke, executive director of 8 80 Cities, a group that advocates for safer public spaces, said the high number of charges at Richmond-Parliament is indication that measures such as red-light cameras and reducing posted speed limits will have limited effect in curbing dangerous driving unless paired with physical redesigns of city streets.

Although she supports the expansion of the red-light camera program, she said the most effective way to improve road safety is by narrowing automobile lane widths, and adding space for cyclists and pedestrians in the form of physically separated bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

“Signs and cameras only go so far,” she said.

“There needs to be a complete redesign and rethinking of how we prioritize the movement of people in the city.”

Browne agreed the best way to change driver behaviour is physical changes to streets, but said such large-scale civil infrastructure improvements take time to implement.

“The number one thing within our control that’s more cost effective, that’s faster to deploy, is really on the automated enforcement side of things,” he said.

To that end, the city is soon hoping to start using cameras to catch speeding drivers, in addition to those who run red lights. Pending approval of new regulations by the province, Toronto could start operating 50 automated speed enforcement cameras on streets near schools and other designated safety zones by December.

The city’s red-light camera program cost about $5 million to operate last year. That’s expected to double once the program is expanded.

Although the program generated $10.4 million in fines for Toronto in 2017, neither city nor provincial officials could immediately provide a figure for how much revenue came from the program last year.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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