A spectre is haunting Canadian roads: the real prospect of actually having to pay a fine for not respecting the speed limit. As speed cameras proliferate, particularly in Ontario, some drivers are showing their displeasure. Many of the cameras have been vandalized and one in Toronto cut down six times.
It’s time for a deep breath.
Speed cameras shouldn’t disappear, they should multiply. The cameras are effective and, because their penalty is so easily avoided, they are fair.
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In fact, a recent poll for CAA showed majority support among Ontarians for the cameras. Politicians who pander to the minority of drivers who hate them are gambling with public safety.
Those politicians span the ideological spectrum, from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford to former Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, now mayor of suburban Vaughan, and left-leaning Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
So busy trying to placate drivers, these politicians ignore that speed cameras work. The hit in the wallet is sufficiently unpleasant that it convinces people to slow down. For evidence, consider that the number of tickets issued by any given camera typically goes down over time.
That effect has been further demonstrated by research from a hospital and university in Toronto. According to their findings, referenced in a recent city staff report, the proportion of vehicles speeding went down 45 per cent after cameras were installed near schools and in high-collision areas.
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A person hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 kilometres an hour has a 90-per-cent chance of surviving. Increase the speed to 40 kilometres an hour, though, and the survival rate drops to 60 per cent. A person hit at 50 kilometres an hour has only a 20-per-cent chance of living.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-sorry-speed-cameras-arent-the-problem/
Lane width restriction is my preferred method, but speed bumps are probably even more guaranteed to be effective.
Roundabouts are awesome. People are still idiots however.
I think you just have to commit to it. It’s only a problem when people are unfamiliar with them. Once They’re exposed enough, they’ll get the hang of em pretty quickly. They just need to be fairly ubiquitous.
We have a lot of them where I live now. They keep them single lane in most places. This is good. There is one major 4 lane and it’s a nightmare most days. Been in place for over 50 years and most still don’t understand it.
I still think they’re great and effective as well.
Lane width restrictions only slow down bad and nervous drivers.
Speed bumps hinder emergency vehicles though.
They also increase noise in the neighborhood due to constant breaking ne acceleration. But tree, narrowing of streets and intersections, etc are all very effective and overall greatly improve residents quality of life.
Oh man, yeah. I didn’t think about it initially, but I used to live in front of a nasty bump in the street. Trucks that passed by would rattle and slam every time they passed on it. It was so loud it woke me up at night.
Oh and I forgot the bumps also impeded drainage so now during heavy rain, or flash melts, there’s a nice lake in the street.
Yup, they added bumps on my street at some points for God knows what fucking reason. McQueen sometimes has weird ideas. It was completely useless because it’s already INCREDIBLY tight, there’s no way to go more than 5kmh above the 30kmh speed limit. Right in front of my apartment, it seriously increased the noise level.
I think, on paper, it was a compromise because the street is so tight that they couldn’t do those bump outs at the intersection, but truly it didn’t need it.
Speed bumps can be designed to accommodate emergency vehicles.