Automated speed enforcement significantly reduces speeding in Toronto school zones

Despite lower speed limits in school zones, child pedestrian injuries are most common near schools. Now, a new study led by researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) has found that automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras reduced the number of speeding vehicles by 45 percent in urban school zones.

The study, published in Injury Prevention, evaluated the impact of mobile ASE cameras deployed across 250 school zones in the City of Toronto between July 2020 and December 2022.

The results showed that in addition to a reduction in the number of speeding vehicles, the 85th percentile speed, a key traffic safety metric that indicates the maximum speed traveled by 85% of vehicles, fell by an unexpected 10.7 km/h.

“Speed is the single most important factor in pedestrian injury risk,” says Dr. Andrew Howard, first author, Head of Orthopedic Surgery and Senior Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids. “This study shows that ASE can be an effective way to reduce that risk, especially in areas where children are most vulnerable.”

The study is the first of its kind to examine ASE in school zones before, during and after ASE cameras were installed. The greatest reductions occurred among vehicles with higher speeds, with an 88% drop in vehicles traveling faster than the speed limit by 20 km/h or more.

Although the study period overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic, when traffic changes occurred due to school closures and lockdowns, the research team highlights several factors that strongly point to ASE cameras as the main cause of speed changes, including the range of traffic conditions captured during that period. Once cameras were removed, speeding rates returned to pre-intervention levels.

“This research supports ASE as a key component of urban road safety strategies, especially in school zones where child pedestrian injuries are most concentrated,” says Dr. Linda Rothman, senior author and Associate Professor at TMU.

While the study did not measure injury outcomes directly, the findings align with global evidence that lower vehicle speeds reduce both the likelihood and severity of pedestrian injuries.

Future studies will explore the reach of speed control measures, including speed limit changes, automated speed enforcement, and built environment modifications that support safe driving speeds in pedestrian areas across multiple Canadian cities.

This research was conducted in collaboration with the City of Toronto as part of its Vision Zero road safety program.