In life one ought to recognize that the relationships between cause and effect are subtle. That relationship is no different in matters of road safety. While society employs police to capture speeding, distracted or impaired drivers, there are other factors that endanger road safety without accountability or recognition. Government actions, as an example, can be as dangerous as driver actions, if the government does not care to protect its citizens. The Ford government in the Canadian Province of Ontario is just such a gang which continues to have no conscience in its actions against road safety.
The Ford government is squeezing the budgets of many entities that provide safety to Ontario’s citizens. Whether it be municipal, health, education or so many others, the Ford government’s reductions of funds to these entities means that these public groups must find ways to cut services. While the public rages against these institutions it fails to understand the underlying cause of service cuts is due to the Ford government’s actions.
As an example, recent news headlines revealed that school boards in southern Ontario in the vicinity of the City of London will be removing school bus monitors. Monitors are persons that ride in a school bus along with the driver and they provide important support by dealing with safety problems that cannot be readily dealt with when a bus driver must pay attention to their driving. If a collision occurs it will most likely be deemed the fault of the bus driver when, in many instances, it could be related to the driver being overwhelmed by distractions or other stimuli not under their control. Serious collisions can result leading to deadly consequences.
Whether it may, or may not be, related, a fatal collision on Longwoods Road on December 16, 2024 at the southwest of London demonstrates what could happen. An 82 year-old school bus driver was charged by London police after a 7-year-old boy was truck and killed by a van driver who passed through the bus’s flashing lights. Why this charge was laid has not been revealed and a trial is still upcoming. Often the public is not provided with the essential details of such incidents. But following the trail back to decisions made by entities such as the Ford government is very difficult, even when that trail is properly revealed.
In another revelation, news media reported on negotiations between elected officials and city staff with respect to the hiring of more school crossing guards in London. It was reported that the city budget for these hires has been maxed out leaving no money to expand the program into newer school areas. Again, this is viewed as a municipal issue, and far removed from any provincial politics. However the provincial government is the overseer of how municipalities function and where municipalities will receive money for local services.
In yet another issue, the Ford government has appealed an Ontario Superior Court decision that prevented cycling lanes from being removed along several of Toronto’s major roadways such as Bloor Street, Yonge and University Avenue. The recent result is that the Ontario Court of Appeal overruled the lower court’s ruling and gave the Ford government free reign to remove those cycling lanes. The Court of Appeal erroneously commented that the negative impacts of removing bike lanes would exist only if bicyclists chose to to ride on the roads that have no bicycle lanes. This logic fails to understand that this is not a “choice” but something that will occur because of how cyclists function. Cycling is not the same a driving a motor vehicle because taking longer routes is not just a matter of something taking more time. For cyclists taking a longer route will involve more expended energy and this is a critical factor in cyclists’ decisions where they will ride. Thus when the cycling lanes are removed many cyclists will continue to drive in those dangerous lanes because it is the shortest route to where they must go.
Previously the Ford government outlawed the installation of traffic speed cameras which is another in their long line of affronts to road safety. The provincial government claimed that the functioning of the cameras were a way of municipalities collecting money from the public, or a “cash grab”. And many in the province fell victim to this propaganda. Municipalities were not totally innocent for this understanding because they were never transparent enough with the public as to how those speed cameras were set. This could have been resolved if the Ford government allowed the speed cameras to exist but required municipalities to be more transparent but that did not occur. The Ford government simply made those cameras unlawful and this created the opportunity for many speeders to ride dangerously fast without repercussions. The Ford government’s alternative to speed cameras was to develop “temporary enforcement measures”, speed bumps, raised crosswalks, roundabouts and improved signage. The City of London was to receive $1 to 2$ million dollars for those actions but none of the funding was to be used to remove any traffic lanes. No one with any serious understanding of road safety would conclude that these measures could be a reasonable replacement for speed cameras. Subsequent research, such as reported in Ottawa in April of 2026 showed that drivers were speeding up sign those speed cameras were removed. Similar speeding increases near Toronto’s Parkside Road were also reported in May of 2026.
And the list goes on. Shortly after Doug Ford was first elected as Premier in 2018 his government stopped an overhaul of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) that was put into law just a few weeks earlier by the previous Liberal government. Many important changes to the SIU that had been thoughtfully recommended in a report by Justice Michael Tulloch were overturned by the Ford government and the SIU remains an entity with limited accountability.
Due to the Ford government’s cutbacks in 2019 Legal Aid Ontario stopped payments to “outside” lawyers representing their clients at bail hearings. This was criticized by the union representing counsel in Ontario because it would cause more people to spend extended times in jail before a bail hearing. The Ford governments cut of legal aid by 30% led Canada’s Chief Justice, Richard Wagner, to comment that legal aid was essential to ensuring the justice system is fair to all.
During the Ford government’s tenure the problem of homelessness has also increased. The homeless, including those with drug addictions or have been born with mental challenges, have been progressively found in traffic where they have become a danger to themselves and to all travelers on the road. Removal of such persons away from dangerous roadways often requires police intervention which takes police away from other duties. in August of 2025 the City of London reported there were just below 2,000 homeless persons in the City but many others have suggested this is an underestimate. in early December, 2025 many Ontario Mayors called on the Provincial government to declare a homelessness state of emergency.
The Ford government has made alcohol sales more accessible such that small variety stores can now sell those products with a reduced control over who can make a purchase. This was also accompanied by legislation in 2019 that would allow “tailgating” or drinking alcohol in parking lots of sporting events while in the back of a vehicle such as a pick-up truck. In the spring of 2024 it was revealed that Ontario’s Attorney General sent a directive to Crown prosecutors to allow them to withdraw certain impaired driving charges if the guilty party accepted guilt under a lower, Highway Traffic Act charge. This was deemed as a way to reduce court back-logs.
The Ford government has increased the speed limit on many of Ontario’s highways. Anyone ought to know that high speed and alcohol are prime factors leading to many collisions. Yet, in 2019 the Ford government also reduced funding for the OPP “field and traffic services”.
In 2018 Doug Ford tried to insert a close friend of his into the position of OPP Commissioner. This appointment was criticized by the interim Commissioner, Bill Blair who asked that the appointment process be investigated. Negative comments made by Ford against Blair caused Blair to initiate a civil law suit claiming a purposeful smearing of Blair’s reputation. That law suit was annulled by Superior Court justice in December of 2020. In 2019 Ford introduced legislation that would prohibit civil law suits filed against the Ontario government. Inappropriate appointments of individuals by the Ford government have been a continual problem. In 2019 news media were able to reveal that several such appointments had ties to Dean French who was Doug Ford’s chief of staff. One such appointee, Andrew Suboch, was the chair of the Justices of he Peace Appointments Advisory Committee who was reported to be a long-time friend of Dean French. Ontario’s judicial appointments are reportedly made by Ontario’s Attorney-General who is a member of Ford’s cabinet. Ford continued with his attempts to interfere with judicial appointments by flatly confirming in early 2024 to appoint “like-minded” judges, or those who shared his view that judges and justices of the peace were too lenient on criminals. Meanwhile the Ford government noted in March of 2026 that it was introducing legislation to keep the public from obtaining information, via Freedom of Information requests, from documents of the premier’s office as well as his cabinet ministers.
In 2020 the Ford government was accused of interference with its Human Rights Tribunal by failing to provide sufficient funding while creating a flawed appointments process.
In December of 2023 Ontario’s Auditor General expressed concerns about the Ford government’s decision to shorten driver examination procedures as a way of reducing he backlog of prospective drivers seeking licenses. The Auditor also expressed concerns about the Ford government’s contracting driver examination contracts to companies that consistent fail to improve service levels.
Under the Ford government the threshold for reporting collisions to police was raised from $2500 to $5000. This change was marketed as a money saving gesture while releasing police from their collision reporting duties. However such lack of reporting means that it becomes more difficult to track road safety issues.
Summary
The provincial government of Doug Ford has demonstrated a substantial history of actions to undermine road safety since its election in 2018. This is only a partial indication of its unethical practices in all areas of its influence. For those fortunate in nations where voting has some meaning the historical reality has always been the same: You Get Whom You Elect.
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