Light turns red and your car is stuck in a busy Toronto intersection? It’s about to cost you

September 16, 2024 Canuck

Drivers who clog up traffic by stopping in intersections when the lights change can now be fined $450 in Toronto, a significant bump up from the previous $90 ticket, Mayor Olivia Chow said Monday.

The fine for an improper stop at an intersection has also been raised for community safety zones, from $120 to $500, Chow said. The increase in fines was approved by the provincial government under the Provincial Offences Act, according to a city news release.

The city is also working with Toronto police to beef up enforcement so people are actually punished for the common issue, with a staff update coming to council in October, the release said.

“One of the things that infuriates drivers the most, is these drivers that blindly rush out into the middle of the intersection even when they don’t have room in front of them to get through,” Chow said at the announcement in downtown Toronto on Monday. “Well guess what, you’re going to pay for that behaviour.”

The move, which is part of the city’s plan to manage congestion, comes as Toronto grapples with notoriously bad traffic, which has been called a crisis and some of the worst in North America.

Aerial (drone) images of traffic gridlock at Spadina and Front St. W in Toronto. Streetcar service has halted on Spadina for construction. — The move to increase fines comes as the city grapples with notoriously bad traffic, which has been called a crisis and some of the worst in North America. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)

Coun. Jennifer McKelvie said blocking the box is not just a traffic issue, it’s a safety issue too.

“Pedestrians who have the right of way have to weave between cars and into oncoming traffic to cross the street,” she said.

City wants more cameras for automatic enforcement

The city wants to go further than simply upping the fines. To enforce so-called blocking the box, Toronto is asking the province to amend the Highway Traffic Act so fines can be applied to the vehicle not the driver, which would allow the city to use licence plate cameras to automatically dole out fines.

Barbara Gray, the city’s general manager of transportation, said the cameras wouldn’t just be used to fine those who block the box. She said they could be used to catch drivers who stop in bike lanes and transit corridors.

“We have to get the improvements and the legislation in place,” she said.

Asked how cameras could differentiate between someone blocking the box and a driver simply heading through an intersection, Gray said all automated enforcement cameras are reviewed by officers who make sure an infraction actually happened.

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