Crackdown on stunt drivers is long overdue
Technology exists to limit speed of vehicles. Let's use it
For a while there, I thought the biggest problem in Ottawa this summer would be backyard fireworks and boy, was I wrong. Turns out our worst and most dangerous problem is an apparently endless supply of speed demons. And the tragedy is, we're not using the right tools to fight them.
As of July 1, speeding by more than 40 kilometres per hour on a road where the limit is 80 km/h or less, is considered “stunt driving,” and we need to revise that terminology because the guys (and, unless I missed something, offenders overwhelmingly are guys) caught driving at such speeds in our otherwise pleasant city may actually enjoy that term, judging by how they keep doing it no matter how many times they get nabbed.
You can follow the Ottawa Police Service traffic enforcement Twitter account for a ghastly stream of regular updates, but here's a taste. On July 6, a motorcycle was stopped going 160 in an 80 zone on Uplands Drive and a car was caught going 181 in a 100 zone on Highway 417 at Innes Road. The day before, someone was stopped going 111 in a 60 zone on Hunt Club Road east of Bank Street and a teenager was nabbed going 119 in a 60 zone on Bronson Avenue. During the Canada Day long weekend, 12 people were charged with stunt driving while another 26 were fined for “regular” speeding. Those are just the ones that got caught.
People get salty fines, get their licences suspended and their vehicles impounded, and yet they continue to drive at evil speeds. These
What are we waiting for? For someone's kid to be killed?
aren't your average lead-footed but otherwise mostly careful drivers not realizing they're doing 62 in a 50 zone. These are people who actually drive at demonic speeds on purpose, in increasing numbers and with complete disregard for the safety of others.
This does not surprise me because: 1) as a car culture we apparently believe we're entitled to drive at whatever speed we want; and 2) in our partial defence, we have built our roads accordingly.
Obeying speed limits is hard, and I can tell you after two years of doing it that there is no quicker or easier way to make people mad than by going 40 in a 40 zone. When you come down on Bronson, north from Riverside, you have in front of you supremely wide expanses of asphalt that practically beg you to floor it. And people do. Why not? Despite what the OPS Twitter account might lead you to believe, cops are rarely there. Do I need to remind you that on that particular stretch of Bronson there is a bike lane and sidewalk on the side? Also schools, houses and a community centre? Same thing on Hunt Club near Lorry Greenberg
Drive and many other places stunt drivers get caught on a regular basis. What are we waiting for? For someone's kid to be killed?
We need to get serious and use technology to limit the speed at which motor vehicles can drive anywhere within city limits. The technology exists. It's called, of all things, “speed limiter” and the European Union is planning to make it mandatory on all new cars starting next year. It does exactly as the name implies. It regulates how fast your car can go by overriding you, the driver, and slowing down your vehicle if it's going over the posted limit.
We also could — and definitely should — sprinkle the city with automatic speeding cameras, starting with the most troubled spots, and fine the dickens out of miscreants. Not just stunt drivers either; everyone who drives over the speed limit. It wouldn't take long for most people to start paying closer attention to how fast they're actually going.
Nobody has a right to decide the law doesn't apply to them because they happen to be in a hurry or they enjoy revving their big engine. It's time to put an end to speeding in general — but stunt driving in particular.