Diode said:
The strange thing is that none of you "anti-speed" types explain..why.
Its seems to be a simple..."Well I can't handle a higher speed limit...So there is no possible way, for sure, for ever, and ever, that someone else can't"
Lame...
I'm not an anti-speeder.
The problem with highways is one has to take into account the bad drivers driving the POS cars,soccermoms in minivans talking on the cell with screaming kids in the back who are late for pick ups, drops offs and are speeding and not looking when they change lanes, people who need glasses but won't wear them, etc. An OPP traffic cop I know told me last year that:
1. Soccer moms in minivans and SUV's get pulled over the most for speeding, unsafe lane changes, etc. They feel they have the right to drive however they want becasue they are late getting the kids to school.
2. What causes most accidents is road debris,mostly falling off vehicles because it isn't properly secured. Other vehicles are hit by it or swerve to avoid it and cause accidents.
3. Excessive speed by a driver paying attention and not changing lanes rarely causes accidents.
That said, if you are happily driving 180 km/h in your Porsche in the left lane and soem doofus soccer mom on the phone driving with one finger in an SUV pulls into your lane and cuts you off doing 122 Km/h and you bump her and she looses control of her POS SUV and wipes out and there are injuries, who do you think the media (think Toronto Sun) will crucify in the press? The hospitalized soccer mom whose carelessness caused the accident, or you/me in the luxury car doing 180? Answer: you/me.
When deciding 400 hwy speed, things like braking distance of POS cars and pathetic driving skills/night blindness/moronic behaviour of a fair chunk of drivers has to be taken into account. Yes, I can drive a Jag 170 km/h easily and safely on the 407 without breaking a sweat or causing an accident IF the people around me either drive that speed as well in similar cars, OR get the hell out of my way and yield to faster moving traffic (eg: if they stay the f out of the left lane and look before they change lanes). Unfortunately, many drivers are inexperienced morons, plain and simple. They don't look, or yield, drive with parts hanging off their cars, nearly flat tires, eating their breakfast, drying their hair, readiing a book (I'm not kidding- I've seen people reading a book while driving on the DVP!) etc. So, I can't drive as fast as I want to drive as I don't want one of these morons causing a pileup, for which I'll be blamed because I was the one going 170. Will they blame the idiot who was reading the newspaper and doing 90 km/h? No, they'll say Alex casued it by doing 170. I don't need the hassle/hospital stay. So I drive with the flow (which fortunately sometimes does go 140 km/h) and I have the reaction time to spare to avoid the idiots who aren't paying any attention to the road. I've avoided at least 20 accidents over the past year on highways by paying attention and taking
abrupt evasive action when confronted by inattentive lane-drifting goofs who thought they were driving a float in the Santa Claus Parade not a car on a 400 series highway...people who must have bought their licences on Ebay...who else would slam the brakes on a highway and cut across three lanes of traffic and then grass to make an exit ramp without looking at all? Goofs.
Anyway, the limits could be raised to 120 km/h with no harm done. Most people do that anyway, as do I, and aren't ticketed for it.
It would be nice to see special lanes for driving 180 km/h or more in, with special training and cars required for the privilege to drive in them, but I doubt it is on the priority list of many in govt.
At the end of the day, what the speed lovers and the speed haters both want is to arrive alive and uninjured in the shortest time. Accidents slow people down - better to avoid accidents and keep the flow moving. The skill of a good driver is how many accidents he avoids, not the speed at which he drives. It is harder to avoid the follies of others when one isdoing 170 km/h. Some of the
abrupt evasive actions I've had to take to avoid idiots I couldn't have successfully completed if travelling much above my usual 120 km/h cruise speed.
