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.
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Take a ride on the 401 between Windsor and Toronto if you want to see why Canadian fatality rates are still up there. Half-lane shoulders bounded by quaint cable guardrails, exposed abutments and overpasses, extreme crown in the pavement, such that any cross wind usually results in a flotilla of vehicles in the fields that line the road.
Unmentioned in all this is the impending Ontario election (which always drives these short-lived initiatives) coupled with our municipal cops’ laissez-faire attitude to minor speeding infractions: “You were doing 75 in a 50 zone; how about I write it up as a 60 if you don’t fight it in court? That way there’ll be no points on your license.”
I remember riding the Queen’s highway (401?) 20yrs ago on a motorcycle — speed limit = 62; average traffic speed = 85… I say average, as I did 140 for a bit to outrun a tailgater who was 5 feet off my back wheel at 85…
the other big problem is that it SNOWS here 8 months of the year and nobody slows down for that. You think 150 is scary on a balmy August afternoon? Try it on a blustery February evening. You would think that Darwin would have caught up wtih all of those people by now, but it is the people around Mr. Missile that end up on the short end of that stick.
In and around Toronto there have been a few high profile “street racing” accidents which garnered a lot of attention.
Traffic on the 400 series highways flows at 125 to 130 under normal conditions, the car that passes you is easely doing 150.
Any vehicle that stays “within the envelope” of the flow of traffic rarely gets stopped for speeding. When a vehicle or better 2 vehicles start to “stick out” from the “envelope” that is when it they will apply the “street racing” rules.
Since most folks fight or try to get out of traffic tickets cops will usually throw the book at you when you are stopped. It keeps the traffic ticket fixers occupied.
Slightly inaccurate – some provinces, including Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have 110km/h maximum speed limits. It’s not uncommon to be travelling 120km/h on the highway here in NB and be overtaken by a police car that does not have its lights/sirens on. With a relatively low population and lots of space (thus lack of traffic), “reasonable” speeding is usually tolerated. You’re much more likely to be pulled over for reckless driving.
Yes all of the above comments are accurate,I’d like to add that in the U.S while the speed limits are higher you got better enforcment,down south.
400-401-QEW speed limit is 100 klms[62 mph]most folks do 125 -135 [78-85 mph]Drive with the flow, across the top of Toronto 401 centercore and collectors its normal to see people going by you like your standing still.They will pass you on the inside or outside.It’s not for the faint of heart.
On the positive side MOST of the lousy and nervous drivers stay away or use an alternate route.
Its the same formula any where else in the world Take a 20 yr old male with a 200+ hp car,throw in a couple of buddies and a few beers the results are devastating.
50 klm over and they throw the book at you?
Correctly enforced I’m all for it.
I used to visit a wonderful Irish girl in Canada for fun in my youth, and consistently did 140+ km/h in my father’s A4 2.8 Quattro all across Ontario province with no attention whatsoever from the RCMP.
This should be interesting to see if they actually enforce it.
Hi. I’m a Canadian, and freedom scares me. Thank goodness Ontario “authorities” are taking care of me.
cretinx: It’s pretty hard for the RCMP to chase you down; their horses only go so fast. I would be more worried about the OPP, although, aside from the now defunct speed traps and ‘weekend blitzes’ you rarely see them on the 400 serise.
Those of us in the RoC (Rest of Canada) get a bit annoyed when people treat Ontario and Canada as synonymous. Ontario may be waging war on speeders, but other provinces will do their own thing, since policing and safety are provincial responsibilities.
One more correction on provincial speed limits – BC has some 110kph limits, for example on the Coquihalla.
The speed limits in Ontario are way too low, but drivers in Ontario (or at least the Toronto area) are crazy, myself included. I left Ontario last summer, but from the time I got my license in 2000 until the summer of 2006 I managed to rack up 12 speeding tickets in Ontario. This was all done driving a 96 Buick Regal or a 2001 4cyl Camry
Since I hit the ripe old age of 23, I’ve calmed down a little bit, but it doesn’t seem like anybody else in Toronto has done the same. I brought my recently purchased 2006 Corvette up to Toronto about 6 weeks ago, and I was challenged to race more often in the 2 weeks I was there than I have been in the ~6 months I’ve been driving the car in Boston. In fact, right after the police went on TV and declared war on street racers, I was repeatedly challenged to race on Yonge St., south of Steeles by a guy in a yellow M3. For those that are unaware, that part of Yonge St. is hardly a deserted area where an Orange Corvette and a Yellow M3 could race without drawing attention. It took all my self control not to engage him right there and then, but I managed to stick to the speed limit while the M3 driver peeled out from about 4 consecutive red lights. People up north just have street racing in their blood
Even though there is a total disregard for the speed limit in Toronto, charging people with street racing for driving 50km/h over the limit is ridiculous in my opinion. Around 4:30am on a Saturday I was able to get my car up to 260km/h on the 400 southbound, right between Finch and the 401. I would like to see what kind of charges the cops could come up with if they caught me doing that!
SPEED DOES NOT KILL. Inattention at ANY speed kills. Please, people, you are not driving nurseries, phone booths, offices, or restaurants. You are driving a 2-ton missile, and you’d better have control of it. (Like this will get their attention or something. The people who need to see this most are probably reading a Neiman Marcus catalog or “Baby” magazine.)
Back on Vancouver Island, the island highway (110km/h limit) was aircraft patrolled but I never heard of anyone who had been caught by it. You were more likely to get nailed by radar as you came around a bend on the highway. Most of the time you could get away with 10 over but thats about it.
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.