I think it would be better to measure the speed over the limit in a percentage. 30mph over the limit in a 30mph zone is much worse (in my opinion) than 30mph over the limit in a 70mph zone.
Not sure if this is just my pet peeve, but the thing that gets me are the people that do 40mph regardless of the speed limit. My drive to work is through 60mph country lanes broken up by a few villages at 30, the amount of times i'll find myself stuck behind somebody doing 40 through the country lanes, only to see them pull away when i slow to 30 as i enter a village. Or the other way round, i get somebody stuck to my tail through villages and then when it comes to the country lanes and i speed up, they are no where to be seen. Anyway just something that gets my gander up.
Heard it on the radio this morning. I'm sick and tired of the highly self-contradictory Ontario Provincial Police. They should take a hint and raise the speed limit in sections of highway where a solid 90% (yes, that's right, even tractor trailers are going 130km/h) of drivers in Toronto are already consistently well over the current limit anyhow. Someone suggested elsewhere that speed limits should be different depending on which lane of the highway you are driving in, which is a brilliant idea. Add to that my recommendation that they increase driver's license qualification standards to professional levels--force all drivers to pass a Group-N touring car class before being granted a license. I'd much prefer to drive on roads alongside competent people who speed than be surrounded by completely imbecilic drivers. It should not be a case of "he who obeys the law, can drive"; rather it should be "he who can drive, can drive".
They should do that here. I think they should be fined heavy and have their licence taken away from them so they have to sit another test. Way I see it, if you cant stick to the speed limit then you should not be allowed to drive.
I agree with what you're saying totally. However, I think someone doing 40mph in a 30mph zone should be punished more severely than someone doing 100mph in a 70mph zone, even though the percentage is higher doing 100 in the 70 zone. It's unlikely that there will be a pedestrian stepping out into the road on a dual carriageway, but the chances of someone stepping out in a 30mph zone are infinitely higher. I think what makes the UK's main roads dangerous is not the people that speed, it's the people that aren't doing the speed limit if it's safe to do so. Obviously, in thick fog, or heavy rain/snow, you wouldn't expect someone to do the speed limit because it's probably not safe to do so, but you would expect people to do the speed limit in good weather. The other thing that really cheeses me off is the people that sit in the middle/outside lane on a motorway doing 60MPH when they're not overtaking. It leads to dangerous driving and undertaking and results in accidents. It's about time it was an offence to be a member of the MLOC - 3pts and a fine please! Speeding in built up areas is a completely different proposition though - there should be no excuse for speeding in a 30mph zone especially.
I should also mention that the O.P.P.'s original plan was to invariably bound some vague street racing conviction to every case of speeding, regardless of the actual, physical evidence presented during a trial. Needless to say, city councilors eat up the idea (who the hell are they anyway?); this article is a mutated result of that original initiative.
On our highways, you see the speed limit and minimum. If you're not doing the minimum speed limit, you can get a ticket just as easy as going over the speed limit. Sadly enough though, when you see the limit is 70mph and the minimum is 45mph, this could be quite dangerous. Especially since most highway patrol won't pull you over unless you're going about 10mph over the limit as they would be just too busy. So 80mph vs. 45mph is dangerous. I agree with Tim, what irks me the most is people who travel in the passing lane at slow speeds and can't be bothered to get over. It forces others to have to pass in the wrong lane or not be able to pass at all. When I lived in Missouri, some of the roads were so hilly and windy, if you got stuck behind a dolt going super slow, you were SOL. There was no way to pass without taking the chance of eating the grill of an oncoming vehicle because you just can't see what's ahead. When I first moved there, my heart would skip a beat driving at night, when you're approaching or on top of the hill, your lights are straight ahead and you cannot see a thing in front of you at the bottom. Kinda scary.
I'm not sure if different speeds for different lanes would really solve anything, the idea behind "speeding is dangerous" is that speeding is dangerous. So making different lanes different speeds would only make driving more complex. and the more complex something becomes the more dangerous it becomes. What would happen if someone from out of town shows up on a highway where the limit in the far left lane is 130for example and they didn't see the sign? all of a sudden you have a higher potential for an accident. I would love to see higher standards to get your licence, that is a great idea, I would also like to see retesting. Especially for people who have been driving for a long time and have picked up bad habits which should keep them from driving. My experince driving a vac truck (30,000kg tri drive 500hp) tought me a lot and I think that everyone should have to learn how to drive a rig just because you have to be a lot more aware of whats around you at all times. edit: One thing that I heard on the radio in Alberta is that they are/were thinking of refusing to give a drivers licence to anyone who did not graduate highschool. now thats a good idea.
But lots of high schoolers need cars, I'm a senior in high school and i need a car to drive to work and stuff. What I think though is that people should have to re take the driving test when they reach a certain age like 60. Old people are the worst drivers. I generally don't like any rules getting tighter, because if they can be tightened then they always will be without being eased off at all so that brings the possiblilty of getting closer to a police state. There are good drivers and there are bad drivers, and speed is usually not the main problem with them. I car pooled with a terrible driver the last 2 years and feared for my life almost every day because she could not stay in her lane and couldn't pay attention to traffic at all. I nearly died several times and none of it was due to speeding.
yeah I agree that there are some people in highschool who need a car either to get to work or to a job. Maybe instead of not allowing a licence at all we could just add restrictions to it. like no driving after 12:00 at night, no passengers, tougher fines for breaking the law. and I know what you mean about fearing for your life, I was in a car with this girl driving once, I was in the back seat and she was talking to the person in the front seat. I had heard that she was a bad driver so I was keeping my eyes open. I had to yell at her to stop for a red light and when I yelled "stop its a red light" she responded by saying "where?" I counted, there were 5 red lights that we could see from where we were. now she's someone who shouldn't be on the road.
You make a fair point. However, I still like the percentage concept. What if different types of roads had different scales? For example, the punishment for 15% over in a town center could be equivalent to the punishment for 30% over on a divided highway. I suggest this only because it's easier to keep track of when you divide it by road types rather than use a sliding scale (logarithmic scale?) based on speed. This is especially true considering the number of roads that have speed limits which don't fit the road well. For example, there's a 35 MPH road near me which has two wide lanes in each direction plus a dedicated turning lane, with no houses or businesses directly on the road - there are a large number of houses in the area but their driveways all connect to smaller secondary roads which in turn connect to the main road. Another road nearby has the same speed limit, but has one narrower lane each direction, parking on one side, a lower surface quality, and numerous driveways opening directly onto the street. Surely these two streets should have very different punishments for being 30% over the limit.
