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A letter I sent to the local paper;
Re: speeding
I would like to see less emphasis on catching speeders and more spent on making it easier to do the speed limit and training drivers. The main reason I see for the emphasis on speeding is that it is easier to catch speeders than to catch tailgaters and discourteous/dangerous drivers. In Red Deer the police and the city set up a radar trap at places where it’s easiest to catch someone speeding rather than spending money on coordinating the speed limits and traffic lights to control traffic flow. And I don’t see these traps set up in bad weather or winter time, when I would expect it’s most dangerous time to speed, so that leads me to believe that radar traps aren’t set to make the roads safe, but to collect money. The city sent a flyer out last year that said that having everyone do the same speed was the safest way to lessen traffic accidents. I know that, in Red Deer at least, because our streets intersections aren’t at the same distances apart, it is hard to have the lights turn green as you approach the lights while doing a consistent speed. I would suggest that changing the speed limits both lower and higher to suit getting a green light while traveling in at least one direction would lower the tendency of people speeding attempting to catch the next light green. A number indicating the optimum speed [within the green light] to catch the next light while it’s green as well as having all the lights coordinated could help make this idea work. I’ve noticed over the course of several months while traveling the exact same route at the same time of day that the lights wouldn’t keep the same time, so that in the first month after turning left at the first light,the second light was green, in the third month the second light was red, and the fifth month the light was green again, indicating that the lights are not coordinated. I don’t know how lights are set up at the moment, but one way I thought of to help coordinate lights is use old cell phones to “talk” to each other so they all “know” what time it is. This would also help recycle some of the phones that we as a society throw away so easily. Another benefit of having lights coordinated is less green house gases being emitted and better gas mileage for everyone driving on our roads.
I’ve seen on the freeways that people consistently travel at 120-130 km/h. Lets change the limit to reflect the average speed that the general populace is doing. After all, this is a democracy, isn’t it? And instead of giving tickets to speeders, lets give tickets to people tailgating. As well, lets give tickets to people traveling at the same speed in the left lane [passing lane] as the person in the right lane, especially when they create a 20 car line behind them.
An even better way to prevent accidents is to train all drivers in accident avoidance, as well as the rules of the road. And lets have the insurance companies help pay for these courses along with both federal and provincial governments, as they will also be benefiting from less accidents. Perhaps it would be prudent to make these courses mandatory for all drivers at no personal cost as society would be the biggest beneficiaries. And to help keep the police employed, we could hire them as the drivers trainers. Though I would rather see them doing something more suited to their training, such as catching thieves, not speeders.
I’m not familiar with the highway to Fort Mac., but I would suggest that the government rescind the law making it illegal to pull over to the shoulder to allow someone an easier passing opportunity. Perhaps changing the right hand white line to an intermittent line in the areas that are safest to pull over would help people to decide to let others pass. One of the best memories of when I first moved into this province ~ 25 years ago was that people were willing to pull over to allow you to pass. This was a courtesy sadly lacking in the province I came from. I’m afraid that the overly safety conscious among us have too much power in making laws, and that they may be more concerned in making a law or making it look like they are doing something [to keep their jobs] than in making the roads safer.
Richard Mckenzie
Re: speeding
I would like to see less emphasis on catching speeders and more spent on making it easier to do the speed limit and training drivers. The main reason I see for the emphasis on speeding is that it is easier to catch speeders than to catch tailgaters and discourteous/dangerous drivers. In Red Deer the police and the city set up a radar trap at places where it’s easiest to catch someone speeding rather than spending money on coordinating the speed limits and traffic lights to control traffic flow. And I don’t see these traps set up in bad weather or winter time, when I would expect it’s most dangerous time to speed, so that leads me to believe that radar traps aren’t set to make the roads safe, but to collect money. The city sent a flyer out last year that said that having everyone do the same speed was the safest way to lessen traffic accidents. I know that, in Red Deer at least, because our streets intersections aren’t at the same distances apart, it is hard to have the lights turn green as you approach the lights while doing a consistent speed. I would suggest that changing the speed limits both lower and higher to suit getting a green light while traveling in at least one direction would lower the tendency of people speeding attempting to catch the next light green. A number indicating the optimum speed [within the green light] to catch the next light while it’s green as well as having all the lights coordinated could help make this idea work. I’ve noticed over the course of several months while traveling the exact same route at the same time of day that the lights wouldn’t keep the same time, so that in the first month after turning left at the first light,the second light was green, in the third month the second light was red, and the fifth month the light was green again, indicating that the lights are not coordinated. I don’t know how lights are set up at the moment, but one way I thought of to help coordinate lights is use old cell phones to “talk” to each other so they all “know” what time it is. This would also help recycle some of the phones that we as a society throw away so easily. Another benefit of having lights coordinated is less green house gases being emitted and better gas mileage for everyone driving on our roads.
I’ve seen on the freeways that people consistently travel at 120-130 km/h. Lets change the limit to reflect the average speed that the general populace is doing. After all, this is a democracy, isn’t it? And instead of giving tickets to speeders, lets give tickets to people tailgating. As well, lets give tickets to people traveling at the same speed in the left lane [passing lane] as the person in the right lane, especially when they create a 20 car line behind them.
An even better way to prevent accidents is to train all drivers in accident avoidance, as well as the rules of the road. And lets have the insurance companies help pay for these courses along with both federal and provincial governments, as they will also be benefiting from less accidents. Perhaps it would be prudent to make these courses mandatory for all drivers at no personal cost as society would be the biggest beneficiaries. And to help keep the police employed, we could hire them as the drivers trainers. Though I would rather see them doing something more suited to their training, such as catching thieves, not speeders.
I’m not familiar with the highway to Fort Mac., but I would suggest that the government rescind the law making it illegal to pull over to the shoulder to allow someone an easier passing opportunity. Perhaps changing the right hand white line to an intermittent line in the areas that are safest to pull over would help people to decide to let others pass. One of the best memories of when I first moved into this province ~ 25 years ago was that people were willing to pull over to allow you to pass. This was a courtesy sadly lacking in the province I came from. I’m afraid that the overly safety conscious among us have too much power in making laws, and that they may be more concerned in making a law or making it look like they are doing something [to keep their jobs] than in making the roads safer.
Richard Mckenzie
at it like.....that!
