Rhetorical question, here: Do politicians sit around long wooden tables and think up dumb ideas?
Do they change things just for the sake of change?
Case in point: Why on Earth does Premier Doug Ford think its wise or necessary to increase the speed limits on Ontario’s 400-series highways?
Is it so we can get to the Beer Store faster?
Just months after bumping speed limits on some 400-series highways as a pilot project, he is quoted as saying, “we want to finish it off.”
Finish it off or finish us off? Is there some new death tax to be collected by Ontario?
Let’s be honest here. Motorists are already doing 120 kilometres per hour when the speed limit is 100 km/h. In construction zones where it's 80 km/h, some slow to 100.
So, if the "legal limit" is set at 110, the average driver will likely go 130 at the very least.
Ford clarifies, “the speed limits will change only where it's safe to do so."
News flash: There’s is nowhere safe to do so.
The freeways are already death traps. I thank my lucky stars at the end of every venture out on the highways of hell.
How many more crashes will there be at higher speeds? How many more injuries and deaths?
The Ontario government says it surveyed the province’s drivers and found that 80 per cent supported the pilot program, and 82 per cent were in favour of raising the speed limit on more sections of 400-series highways.
That poll also showed that 61 per cent of Ontario drivers feel comfortable driving faster than the 100-km/h speed limit, while fewer than 10 per cent feel most comfortable around 100 km/h.
Meanwhile, 55 per cent of those surveyed said they did not think drivers would change their speed habits in the 110-km/h zones, while 44 per cent said speeds would increase in the affected areas.
How fast will trucks be going?
OK, I don’t have the engineering data, but I have eyes on the roads.
Yes, people are going to go faster and test the boundaries.
And yes, maybe the highways can handle it, but can the drivers?
According to OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, speeding and aggressive driving were the No. 1 causes of road fatalities in the province in 2021, with 81 people dying as a result of crashes linked to those two factors. Schmidt also said that speed, inattention and impairment were the leading causes of the more than 60,000 crashes the OPP responded to last year.
The safety message “speed kills” still seems logical to me.
You don’t have to go that fast, you say? Well, then enjoy that vehicle up your bumper from here to the next exit! And the one going around you in the right lane. Oh, and the honking horns and single-digit salutes.
There are also some horrible drivers. It seems patience is down and aggression is up.
When I'm elected your premier (never ever) I will make everyone (any age) take a driver’s course and then refresher courses through their life. It wouldn’t hurt any of us to be reminded of the rules of the road.
I know the days of the leisurely drives are long gone, but must every trip be a stress-filled, dramatic blur?
If this is what The Jetsons meant by flying cars, I'll see you in the slow lane.
