After years of writing about traffic enforcement and pedestrian and cyclist safety, I became convinced that Toronto police either just don’t like or don’t respect policing the roads, and the leadership doesn’t see good reason to change that.
A former police officer told Habibinia much the same. There is a long-standing culture inside the police service where traffic enforcement is not considered “real police work” compared to “sexy” crime-fighting. Yet city hall, which sets the police budget, believes gridlock is a major problem, for people and for the economy.
If police don’t want to do traffic enforcement, give the job to somebody who costs less, works 24-7 and never blocks a bike lane to get a coffee — automated enforcement cameras, argued contributing columnist Matt Elliott.
Toronto Star Newsletter – This Week in Politics – David Rider, September 13, 2024
See also: Steeper fines for Toronto drivers ‘blocking the box’ – Toronto Star, September 16, 2024
Photo: Svetlana Grechkina from Moscow, Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
