For the fifth time, the speed camera on Parkside Drive in Toronto has been vandalized. Someone, undeterred by consequences, has made it their mission to silence the automated enforcer once again. Many are quick to condemn the act as reckless, destructive, even criminal—and it certainly is. But to stop there is to miss the broader picture. The recurring destruction of this camera should not just be seen as an act of defiance by one rogue individual; it is a symptom of a deeper problem: public disillusionment with the way traffic laws are enforced and how our streets are designed.

Some have called for the City or Toronto Police to offer a $50,000 bounty to catch the vandal. While that might result in an arrest, it won’t fix the festering frustration felt by thousands of drivers who feel targeted, not protected, by the current system. Many Torontonians who wouldn’t dream of cutting down a traffic camera still quietly resent them—especially when they receive a ticket for going 1 or 2 km/h over the limit. To them, these devices don’t represent safety; they represent a fine line between law enforcement and opportunistic revenue generation.

Laws, particularly those that affect the daily lives of citizens, must be just in both letter and spirit. When laws feel like traps, or when enforcement feels more like a cash grab than a safeguard, public trust erodes. The fact that many speed cameras are operated in partnership with private companies—who share in the profits—only deepens the skepticism. Even drivers who support safe streets often see speed cameras as predatory rather than protective. And without broad public trust, enforcement—no matter how automated or well-funded—will never succeed in creating lasting change.

But cameras are only one part of the problem. The bigger, more systemic issue lies in how our streets are designed. Take Parkside Drive as an example. It is a wide, multi-lane road that cuts through a residential neighbourhood—a street built for speed, not safety. Traffic engineers often defend such designs by invoking the principle of “efficiency.” They calculate how shaving 30 to 60 seconds off a driver’s commute—multiplied by thousands of vehicles per day—adds up to massive time savings and economic benefits.

But this math is deceptive. Those few seconds rarely make a real difference in people’s lives, and any gains are quickly negated by congestion, traffic signals, or the reality of short urban trips. Worse, this obsession with speed creates streets where pedestrians and cyclists are treated as afterthoughts, and where drivers feel emboldened to move quickly, regardless of posted limits.

The end result? Streets that are hostile to everyone except those in fast-moving vehicles—and even they aren’t truly safe. We see the consequences every day: preventable collisions, tragic fatalities, and a growing sense of anxiety about simply crossing the street.

If we are serious about safety, enforcement alone is not enough. No amount of cameras, fines, or bounties will fix a fundamentally broken system. What we need is a change in philosophy—one that recognizes drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists not as adversaries, but as co-owners of our shared public space.

That means rethinking street design from the ground up. It means narrower lanes, traffic calming measures, more trees, more protected bike lanes, and more space for pedestrians. When streets are designed to slow cars down naturally—rather than relying on signs, cameras, or fines—compliance becomes organic. Drivers slow down because the street tells them to, not because they fear punishment.

Such streets don’t just reduce speeding; they foster community, encourage active transportation, and improve quality of life. They send a clear message: that safety is a shared priority, not a commodity to be sold back to us through fines.

The vandalism of the Parkside Drive camera is embarrassing, yes. But what’s more embarrassing is that, five times in, we’re still focused on the saw rather than the system. If we truly want safer streets, it’s time to stop doubling down on enforcement and start investing in smarter, fairer, and more humane design.