General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

This is what I would like to see, too. A realistic speed limit with enforcement.

And an end to the idea that it is somehow “blocking traffic” if I’m hanging out in the left lane at a speed for which theoretically I could be ticketed hundreds of dollars in speeding fines.

Current practice seems to validate that traffic moving smoothly at 120km/h is OK; but an increase in the limit to 120km/h shouldn’t mean that now everybody starts going 140km/h.

Maybe we could combine tolling with ubiquitous speed enforcement: install 407-style tolling on all 4xx highways, and have a surcharge for going faster than 120km/h between entrance and exit. We would need a more rigorous approach to unidentifiable cars, however.

I’m honestly not sure how serious I am about these ideas.

There are two things that are only somewhat connected being discussed, the speed of travel, and the speed limit.

I don't care as much about the speed limit as I do about the speed of travel. If the change to the speed limit was made without changing the speed of travel, then I probably don't care.

I highly suspect that increasing the speed limit to 120 would result in the speed of travel increasing to ~135, which would have a resulting increase in fuel consumption, death, and destruction.  I strongly oppose that.

Increasing the speed limit without increasing the speeds would require substantial enforcement, and I suspect I'd see pigs fly before Ontarian drivers accept the idea of automated enforcement on the highway, or the tax increase needed to fund pervasive live enforcement.

The biggest fears I have right now stem from the fact I have zero faith in our government to make good decisions.