etcheffects wrote:
If speed governors aren't the answer to slow vehicles down WHAT IS?
Why do we need to slow everyone down?
Speed governors would only have an effect on our fastest roads, which are already our safest. Our fatality rate is falling and it continues to fall. Other countries are raising their freeway/motorway limits and seeing their fatalities and collisions drop as well. The facts and statistics don't support the idea that our high-speed roads are becoming more dangerous. It may be emotionally upsetting to see some idiots weaving in and out - but they are only one type of driver that's higher risk. I don't see how speed governors address much more dangerous habits which are also more frequent and kill people more often. I don't see a big deal with someone going 150 in the middle of nowhere; but someone going 70 down a busy corridor with pedestrians, driveways, parked cars and hidden intersections everywhere is incredibly dangerous and won't be stopped by a speed governor. Hit a pedestrian at 45 km/h and they've only got a 50-50 chance of survival. At 65 km/h, it's a 10% chance of survival. Until high speeding becomes one of the top causes of fatalities in this province (despite the hype, it isn't - and it's becoming less frequent), I don't see a need for a blanket set of governors. As I said earlier, the overwhelming majority of fatal collisions happen at speeds below 100 km/h.
What should've been done all along: Upgrade the curriculum of the driving schools, make it mandatory to attend a real driving school (not some of these fly-by-night operations that teach diddly-squat), and require people to re-validate their licence every five or ten years (at least with a written test). I have to get tested every six months or I lose my job (different industry than driving but still...) so I'm very unsympathetic to the idea that people should get a "licence for life."
manwithaplan wrote:
Like someone else mentioned, look at the 407. it's the fastest highway in Ontario, with hardly any accidents happening (I've been on this highway almost every day for the last three years, and can count on one hand the number of accidents I've seen, most of which where when it was snowing). And guess what, people (90% of the time) keep to the right! The left lane is almost always wide open for faster cars.
If anything, they should raise the limit on the 407. One other statistic: Raising the speed limit has been shown to cause a marked drop in the 99th percentile speed. That means that the people who were going the absolute fastest... actually slowed down.
Heck, I was on the German Autobahn as recently as this past summer. In the no-limit areas, I was going 160+. What was it like? Scary? Fun? Nope. CALM. It seemed like the "no limit" areas had the heaviest surveillance, looking for people passing on the right, tailgating, failing to move over. Still, the speeds were higher than we see here (the 407 can be close some times). Funny how it's safer on the Autobahn than on Canadian highways with 100 km/h limits. Improving our driving standards is the best way to improve safety, in my view, because I've seen the difference between driving here, and driving in places where they take driving much more seriously (Germany, Switzerland). People tailgate here all the time. Do it in Germany and you'll get up to a three month licence suspension. They also force vehicle owners to get routine safety inspections on their vehicle, with proof submitted to the government. (Go for a tune-up, you also need a government-approved safety inspection... I think it's at least every year.) That's being proactive.
etcheffects wrote:
with governors to put and end to reckless dangerous driving from some idiot who is probably drunk
So if we did put in governors, what are you going to set the governed limit to? 100 km/h? 90? Those are still above the speed range where most fatal collisions happen. Most drunk drivers kill people on two-lane highways where they drift into oncoming traffic, or on surface streets where they blow through intersections and hit pedestrians or other cars. The ironic thing is that, a lot of the time, the drunk is actually going SLOWER than everyone else on the road. Telltale signs - going way slower than everyone else, unable to stay in their lane, braking late, brake lights activating for no reason, etc. If we're going to put some kind of gadget in there to control driver behaviour, maybe it should be an ignition interlock on all vehicles. (I'm not advocating that, but if we're going to have maximum effect, it should start there.)
I think we all want our roads to be safer, but we obviously disagree on how that is to be achieved.
One other thing... I used to live in Montreal. I'll drive there any day instead of Toronto. Montreal drivers are aggressive, but they're predictable. Toronto drivers range from being far more aggressive than anything you'll see in Montreal, to people who are so scared that you wonder how they got out of their home. I have no idea what a driver in the GTA is going to do until they actually do it. That's the main reason driving here is so bad.
This is until I get the last set of flares out, blocking the right lane, then reposition the cruiser on hwy.....and some drivers stop, some get out and ask "is the highway closed" 
. I see them eb and wb around Dufferin/Bathurst a lot too, sitting under the overpasses.