Comments on: Going 5 km/h faster? How much time are you actually saving?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:49:26 +0000

Firstly, it takes only a few morning rushers to put everyone at risk and raise your blood pressure with stupid antics. On the other hand, slowing at an intersection can also be a problem. With a line up of traffic on the 27 all going the limit of 80km, if the lead car slows, guess what will happen? All the cars in the line bunch up wondering why someone is slowing at a green light. The best strategy is to maintain a constant flow but to give heightened attention to what is happening left and right and a left turner trying to cut ahead of you. Slowing just creates an additional crisis behind you.

By: gordon ball

gordon ball — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:36:01 +0000

Longer travel means a greater chance of an accident. Two minutes saved reduce the chance of an accident. The safest speed to travel is 10 per cent FASTER than the flow of traffic.

By: gordon ball

gordon ball — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:27:41 +0000

Simple. 2 minutes less on the road means you have less chance of a collision since you are not on the road.

By: nic

nic — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:41:47 +0000

Not really, I used to run out west and years ago I used to drive fast, I would drive 75 mph, but wouldn’t get there any faster than one of the other guys who only drove 65 mph. Only difference is I would have burned more fuel than the guy doing 65.

By: nic

nic — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:38:10 +0000

It really doesn’t save you any time. For example, I was driving home today on a two lane hwyway, with a speed limit of 90 km/h. I was doing about 100, a car passed me doing about 15 or 20 km/h faster than me. By the time we got into town I was right behind him at the light, so he didn’t get there any faster than I did. I see this all the time, which is why I can’t understand that people almost kill themselves on these roads trying to pass because they really aren’t getting anywhere faster.

By: Wayne Scott

Wayne Scott — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 13:29:40 +0000

The fact that we are having this conversation at all underscores the salient issue we are dealing with here.

Our society has been driven to this inefficient, congested, polluted, road-kill strewn mess by the automotive industry and the petroleum industry – along with their merchandizing agents, media shills and decades of complicit governments, at all levels.

Throughout this great-granfather’s lifetime in Toronto, we Ontarians have been subject to what might be termed the “Oh-Oh factor”. Whatever was deemed good for Oakville (FORD) and/or Oshawa (GM) has been seen as beneficial/necessary to a prosperous provincial economy.

And so instead of a safe, efficient, sustainable mobility system to move people and our goods, we have been handed a transportation model designed primarily to move the “big metal” missiles that the auto industry makes the most profit on, using the toxic products the oil industry rapes the planet to obtain for us.

Trying to convince the truly auto-addled among us to slow down will never work as they have never known any reality other than one where their natural state sees them behind the wheel, doing twenty over the limit. Don’t take my word for it – read the comments here in WHEELS, every week.

If we want to slow the idiotically dangerous pace on our overly congested roads today, three things must change:

a) – rewrite the Highway Traffic Act for the twenty-first century, reflecting the responsibilities – and then the rights – of all road users, regardless of personal vehicle choice.

b) – teach the rules to all road users (including the police), seriously test all licensed vehicle operators regularly, and strictly enforce the laws as they are written.

C) – rethink and redesign motor vehicles from the ground up, so that they more accurately reflect the needs – not the fantasies – of our 21st century, largely urban society.

Case in point, take a look at the speedometer in the picture above this article. It tops out at 220 kph.

Why?

By: David

David — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 00:45:49 +0000

…on the other hand, a trucker driving from Toronto to the west coast going an extra 5km/hr faster could net him another 4 or 5 hours sleep during the trip. I’ll take that over the increase risk any day.

By: scott@dobson.tv

scott@dobson.tv — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:23:22 +0000

If you drive faster it takes longer to stop. Really there are people that want to argue that?

By: Sunday Sailor

Sunday Sailor — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:13:28 +0000

Nice analysis Ian. However, you’ve overlooked several factors that most daily commuters take into account when driving. The big one here is the timing of traffic lights. If the lights are timed such that you can hit multiple green lights in a row by driving 5 km faster, then you should travel that faster speed. It will save between 30 sec and 1 min for every extra green light that you make. It also saves fuel and reduces green house gases!

Also no mention was made of the effect of sleepy or bored drivers. If it keeps the driver better engaged in what he’s doing, he’s much safer at that higher speed and LESS likely to get into a crash. Yes, I know, sleepy or bored drivers shouldn’t be on the road in the first place. But the reality is that they are!

By: Duke

Duke — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:54:12 +0000

It’s a big difference about guys. I don’t understand why nobody talks about the fact that if you go 65km/h, you will go home earlier 5 minutes when you go 60km/h. So just imagine there are a thousands of cars are traveling faster just 5km, thousands of people will get home earlier than 5minutes and there are less traffic. So the traffic will much better. This is important fact.