Improper use of driving lanes will impact success of speed limiters

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Regarding your blog about speed limiter use in Australia and Europe: having driven in Australia and much of Europe, I don’t believe that Australian or Euro driving habits mirror our own. In my experience, drivers in these countries (at the very least) respect the proper use of driving lanes! God help you if you’re caught driving in the overtaking lanes in those countries. This is where studies outside of Canada fall apart! I’m sure the people that you questioned are not aware of the careless use of our highways by many drivers who are ignorant of the proper use of the driving lanes in Canada. Also the variance in speed between trucks and cars will be more like 20 km/h, not 10 km/h!

I sat at the table with the OPP road safety committee at one of the OTA’s Road Safety awards conventions several years ago. They agreed and said that “improper lane use was one of the biggest causes of traffic accidents, which also leads to speeding and road rage.” I asked, if this was the case, why was policing of this not a priority? They all shrugged their shoulders and said, “We’ve raised this issue many times with senior officials but it appears to fall on deaf ears.” I hope the DOT is aware of this and generates the necessary programs for public awareness!

Alan Masters. MCG Consulting Beeton, Ont.

Most of those supporting speed limiters for trucks cite Europe as a positive example, but fail to mention that should European regulations (as pertaining to trucking) be implemented here, the continent would be on its knees within days and crawling face-first in the dust in a matter of weeks.

I personally support speed limiters but the type that you see on the shoulder, over a bridge or in the median. But should those be implemented, I can safely bet that most of those supporting speed limiters for trucks, and some of those support raising speed limits for cars to 120 km/h on the 400 series roads, would be crying “cash grab” or “disguised taxation.”

However, what puzzles me the most in this debate is the altruism of trucking executives who think this is such a great measure that even their competition should adopt it. Well, what’s good for the goose is good for gander and in order to convince me of the idea, I would like Mr. David Bradley of the OTA, Mr. Robert Penner of Bison Transport and others of their ilk to lock their own cars at 105 km/h. And why at 105 km/h and not 100 km/h? At 101 km/h you are already breaking the law.

Alex Goorskhee

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