Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[ijmorlan]

Of course, we must put signs up 90 days in advance to notify people...of what you might ask. Of the fact that the speed limit that was already set will be enforced...the exception which proves the rule? What rule? That speed limits aren't a rule.

I’m more interested in knowing what limit will be enforced.

Right now, the de facto speed limit is at least 10km/h greater than posted on regular streets, and 20km/h greater on highways. Changing this, in my opinion, requires a publicity campaign: if we change policy on the 401 so that speeds of 101km/h and up will be ticketed, we need to tell everybody the policy is changing before it changes.

If the limit that will be enforced automatically is one that would cause a typical police officer on patrol to pull over the vehicle, then no warning signage should be required. But if 40 means 40 now then that is a material change in the de facto rules.

We’ve got ourselves into a bad situation where the numbers on speed limit signs don’t mean themselves at all. As automatic enforcement ramps up the discrepancy between the de jure and de facto rules is going to cause increasing problems. If it was just a few scofflaws I wouldn’t care but normal driving speed is not directly related to the posted limit.

This discussion is both a matter of ethics and of practicality. Any automatic enforcement regime that starts ticketing substantially everybody who drives somewhere will likely come under unstoppable political pressure.