Speed Limits

This is a letter to the editor I recently (2008/09/03) wrote:
(Note: All locations mentioned are in Waterloo Region in southern Ontario, Canada)

Here we are, another school year and another round of complaints about speed limits. A lot of people on television and in the newspaper say that they personally obey speed limits and that limits should be enforced rigorously. If you have driven any length of time you know that most people ignore the speed limit or view it as a guide! It has been found that people generally drive the design speed for roadways regardless of the limit. That is why people speed so much on roads like Dundas Street in Cambridge, Fountain Street near the airport, the 401 and other roadways.

When people perceive speed limits to be arbitrary and unwarranted they will ignore them. Furthermore, it brings all speed limits into disrepute even where they are warranted. The governments and the police have no-one to blame but themselves. In 2003, the BC government released a report recommending the 85th percentile as the safe speed limit target and reset a lot of limits – some higher and some lower. Unfortunately our speed limits are set politically and as knee-jerk reactions to an accident. When I drive in the rural areas of the Region, vehicles regularly pass me in 80 km/hr zones doing speeds at what I would estimate to be 110 – 120 km/hr. Why do they drive so fast? They drive so fast because they do not believe in the speed limit. If you want a realistic limit, ignore all the political pressure, the special groups with axes to grind and just observe how fast people actually drive.

The problem is that unnaturally low speed limits frustrate drives and encourage drivers to speed. There will always be those who pedantically observe the speed limit regardless of conditions. Of course the drivers behind will eventually become frustrated and take stupid chances to overtake. This is behavior I have observed on a regular basis on our roads. A good example of an artificially low limit is where Fountain Street is 70 km/hr. It is an urban road, reasonably good condition with no sharp bends. Very few houses are located along it. When I first got my license (before metrification), that was a 60 mph roadway. Since then, the road has undergone significant improvements. People speed on this road on a regular basis – when they do get behind somebody actually doing the limit they usually ride their bumper and follow too closely because there is no space place to pass.

When the Breslau bypass was opened the limit was 70 km/hr. Later on it was upped to 80 km/hr to encourage more people to use the roadway. Actually, the limit should be more like 100 km/hr. Now if that doesn’t underscore how arbitrary and political our speed limits are, nothing will.

Report: Posted Speed Limits and Speed Limit Setting Practices in British Columbia (Spring 2003)