Canada Wages War on Speeders
Ontario authorities are pulling out all the stops to put the brakes on speeding. The National Post reports that the province will begin citing drivers who exceed speed limits by 50 km/h (31 mph) with “street racing” tickets– even if they aren’t racing. Offenders will also be fined a whopping C$2k to $10k, face an on-the-spot license suspension, and risk having their vehicles impounded for one week. The Globe and Mail also announced Ontario’s reintroducing aircraft patrols after a 26-year absence. Earlier this summer, the Toronto Star revealed new requirements for commercial vehicles: 105 km/h (65 mph) speed governors. While many U.S. states have been raising speed limits, Canadian legislators have remained firmly in the slow lane. Ontario limits speeds to 100 km/h (62 mph); no province has a limit that exceeds 110 km/h (68 mph). Whether these anti-speed policies save lives remains, at best, unclear. Since 2000, the U.S. fatality rate per vehicle mile has fallen roughly 2.5 times faster than Canada’s, with American roads now enjoying a slightly lower overall death rate than their neighbors to the north.
More by Adrian Imonti
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Thank God the Ontario government is going the simplest, most obvious thing to raise money, er, make our roads safer. How about they throw the book at people WHO CAN'T DRIVE?!!!! God.
Where most other countries/states are progressing forwards ... here we have Ontario progressing backwards. It seems to me that people in Ontario are getting squeezed tigher each day by the vise grip that the government has on them. Ontario is vastly a worker immigrant population, with a lot of poor immigrants living in the Toronto area. What really needs to be changed is the license system in Ontario. It is far too easy to get a license. The system must be made much tougher. And Ontario needs to focus on bad drivers, not fast drivers. But of course, that likely will never happen.
Up until recently, Ontario Police were targeting unsafe driving as opposed to speeders. The Police themselves know the difference between someone driving fast but safe(ish), and someone driving like a maniac. I recently listened to a Radio interview by an OPP Officer , and he corrected the journalist countless times that unsafe driving was not the same as speeding. With the couple of racing incidents on the 400 etc that have killed people, the media and the Ontario Government have been calling for strict speeding fines and slower limits. Of course with an election coming up very soon, the nuts at Queen's Park are scrambling to "do something" that even remotely looks good. I agree, it is damn easy to get a drivers license in Ontario, but they HAVE toughened it up somewhat since I got mine many moons ago. The graduated licensing system keeps brand new drivers off the 400 series highways at least for a bit. Our drivers education systems are horrible though. Many moons ago I went through the Young Drivers of Canada system. I couldn't believe how different it was from what my friends were taking. Most of the drivers Ed schools seem to focus on Parallel Parking etc, and whatever will get you a license, not what will make you a better driver. Friends I know who work for the OPP have stated multiple times to me, they have the radar alarm bells set to 120 km/h. They generally don't even look at cars doing 119 and under unless driving dangerously.
Most traffic though travels at 120 - 130, so I don't see them pulling over people for that, unless driving like an idiot.