AS CHARLES DICKENS SAID " THE LAW IS AN ASS"

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this article by Peter Shawn Taylor titled "Time to decriminalize safe driving: the case for higher speed limits". Mr. Taylor points out the obvious and that is that Ontario (& Canadian) drivers have a comfort zone when they drive. Based upon visibility, weather and road conditions; mature, experienced drivers drive their cars at speeds totally appropriate to those factors. It matters not if the posted speed limit is 150 or 50 kilometres per hour, any experienced driver quickly understands at what speed they can safely travel a road. Similarily any abrupt change in driving conditions whether rain, snow or nightfall automaticaly triggers their adjusting their speed to a more comfortable, reassuring speed. Mr. Taylor points out the recent significant increases in speed limits in British Columbia as an example of a more progressive province. All traffic studies done after raising speed limits tells the same story. There is no increase in accidents and quite frankly very little increase in average speeds. What it does however is partly at least get the slackers and dreamers out of the fast lane doing 90 km/hour once the limit is raised to 120 km/hr. Increased speed limits also have little effect upon the minority of aggressive, drunk or distracted drivers. In fact it may very well cause the distracted drivers to focus more on their driving although this is as yet unproven.

To date ridiculously low speed limits have been a boon for cash strapped municipalities. They have also sucessfully magnified contempt of our grossly outdated driving laws. Higher speed limits do not cause accidents. Distracted, drunk and stupid drivers do. As in Europe pull over to the right and let the faster drivers go. Sitting in the left lane and taking a mile or more to pass a car by carefully only driving at a too low speed limit does not promote safety. If you're going faster than the car in front then pull into the fast lane, pass him smartly and pull back into the right or slower lane. This is not rocket science folks yet our outdated speed limits have simply promoted bad driving as drivers are too cautious in going by the slower drivers. They aren't being cautious safety wise they are being cautious for fear the O.P.P. or Waterloo Regional Police are lurking nearby looking for a quick $100 or $200 from you. Decades of low speed limits and primarily speed enforcement focus has enabled the incompetent drivers and merely pissed off the competent ones. "The law is an ass" albeit a self serving one. Excessive police salaries at all levels are being subsidized involuntarily by honest, average citizens driving safely and carefully ten to twenty-five kilometres above posted speed limits. This is nothing more than state sanctioned theft and harassment based upon disproven, self serving theories of "safety".