Well I took a 1200km round trip to Toronto with the Rx-8 last weekend and I got to say either Ontario drivers have huge cahones or they are plain dumb.

On the way down 12 popo's and 3 people being towed/impounded including 2 women and 1 young guy in an M3 who looked like he was crying.

Even though I rolled 120km/h all the way down (Rx-8 Cruise control ftw) and I had to be one of the slowest cars on the road. Especially when I arrived in the GTA people were rolling 140-150km/h regularly. I would have thought that especially with the kind of laws you guys have you would be driving slower than Bob Barker. On the way home it was the same thing.

So tell me what makes Ontarians such speed demons.

 

the same reasoning behind how the government controlls us. Because we can.

 

because everyone in ontario has ALWAYS gone that fast. It's how the roads work here.

Also, you're from quebec. Have you ever driven on the roads THERE? like holy crap.

 

OP, you probably caught a bad day :P

 

It was the Easter blitz. I saw a similar situation halfway between Windsor and London, 4 cruisers on the side with 4 commuters, and an SUV under the bridge hitting people with the radar. Saw it again on the way home after work as well. My sister also saw it the next day. Since the traffic goes crazy during holidays they like to throw extra cops on the road and hand out more tickets than they normally would bother even turning the radar on for. Makes it look like our boys in blue (well they usually wear black) are actually earning the tax money we use to pay them. Makes them look like they are doing their jobs. One or two weekends per year that is.

And Mr. Quebec, have you seen the way the people in that province drive. Screw speeding, how about a turn signal and some space when changing lanes. Considering the 400 series highways are the safest in North America, maybe a little speeding is OK.

 

drive the QEII highway between Calgary and Edmonton and u will find people crusing the same speeds

 

I do, and they do.

 

Life in ontario just seems so much busyer, and feels liek u spend most of it driving from one spot to a nother, not a lot of ppl wanna drive or spend time driving the nthe need to lol thats were the speeding comes in... welll thats how i see it any ways

 

Its safe to go at those speeds on most of the 400 series highways depending on traffic. Anything 120 or below and im sleeping at the wheel.

thewird

 

Funny you mention it I cross the Ontario/Quebec border on the highway every time I am doing a parts trip and my girlfriend even if she is a read a book or not paying attention to the road always says " We are in Ontario now aren't we" and vice-versa when we come back. Our roads must compete with Baghdad roads in terms of surface consistency.

I don't understand honestly how Ontarians aren't holding pitchforks and torches in front of the head of the O.P.P's office I mean it is ridiculous, this was like a riot squad on the highway, definitively turned me off of every living in Ontario.

On the subject I can't believe also that our modest country hasn't followed the modesty of most of the countries in Europe in installing a 120 km/h speed limit on there highways heck even the Americans have got it at 70 mph, you would think that with Transport Canada copying their everymove we would at least have that.

 

Actually, most American Interstates are 75mph (=120kmh) - at least in the western states I've travelled in. Most people are doing around 80-85 (so 130-140ish), especially in the long, wide open, boring stretches of Utah, Arizona, and the like.

We'd do well to emulate that here. No point in a speed limit that nobody, including the cops, drives at. No point, except to generate ticket revenues, that is. From a safety perspective, it's less the speed that matters, and more that everybody drives close to the same speed. Artificially low speed limits actually increase accidents, because they increase speed differentials, which is shown to lead to more accidents, caused by things like overtaking with high speed differences, and dangerous passing.

 

Damn right. Try coming up to a vehicle doing 55MPH when your in a loaded truck doing 65. You close that gap FAST and usually there's not much room or time to jump a lane when you realize just how fast your closing the distance. Good thing I have 10 bigass drum brakes on there. Same with in a car. You get stuck behind someone doing 95/100 when everyone and their grandmother is doing 120, and you get angry and frustrated because your going so slow relative to the traffic around you that there is no space to move over to get around said idiot. A simple solution to all the speeding issues is better training like the european countries have. In most of them it takes years and a few grand in training and testing to get your licence. They also start younger. That's why they have an Autobahn and higher speed limits. The people are actually trained to drive their cars properly, not just get from point A to Point B.

I've always said there's a huge difference between knowing how to operate a motor vehicle, and knowing how to drive a car. Operating a motor vehicle is the test you get from the MTO. Can you accelerate, can you brake safely, can you do a lane change, what does that sign mean? Basically can you get from here to there without killing yourself or anyone else in the process. Tough stuff man. Driving a car is anticipating other drivers actions, as well as their reactions to possible situations. Knowing what to do IF that guy cuts in front of me because hes about to miss his exit. Should I slow down just a touch and move over now because that guy is coming up pretty fast behind me, or sit here like a douche and make him slow down and get angry. IF he hits his brakes for that yellow light, am I going to hit him because he might not stop and I'm too close? If he does stop do I have space to move over? etc etc. Tons of examples to choose from. The point is, most people brought up before the graduated licensing system were never actually taught how to drive by someone that really knew how to drive. Sure they've been driving for years before we were born, but I've been dressing myself for years and I still can't pull that off every day. Experience has no bearing on skill when it comes to driving. If you've been a shitty driver for 3 decades, then guess what. I've been driving for 7 years and I can still drive circles around you. ******* system needs a serious reform.

 

^^^ Well spoken

 

It's actually 130km/h in many European countries while the others make do with 120km/h (England gets the shaft at 70 mph). Most countries also have a "wet" speed limit of 110km/h. Trucks are capped at 100km/h. Regardless, speed enforcement on highways is virtually non existant and many drive well beyond the limit. On the flip side, speed traps and cameras are everywhere in populated areas and virtually no one speeds on city streets. This is the opposite of what I was used to in Canada where everyone routinely gets busted on the highway for doing 15 over while everyone drives 100 in the 60 zone on the way home.

The Canadian highway speed limit and its enforcement really is a joke and posted speed limits in busier areas are often completely inconsistant. How often does it happen that you're driving down some random street when you suddenly realize you're doing 20 over because the speed dropped from 80 to 60 a couple kms ago for no apparent reason?

The Ontario 50km/h over "law" is a frightening thing and says a lot about where Canadian politics are heading imo.