Speed limit going down on Connector
Not so fast. Driving from Kelowna to Vancouver will take five minutes and 30 seconds longer with the provincial government lowering the speed limit on the Okanagan Connector by 10 km/h.
The speed reduction, among 15 to be implemented provincewide, is said by the government to be a safety initiative after the higher limits were associated with increased crash rates.
"We know people want to get where they're going quickly. Our job is to help make sure they also get there safely," Minister of Transportation Claire Trevina said in a release.
The limit has been trimmed from 120 km/h to 110 km/h on the portion of the Okanagan Connector, otherwise known as Highway 97C, that extends from Peachland to Aspen Grove.
From Aspen Grove to Merritt, the speed limit will be reduced from 110 km/h to 100 km/h.
Assuming a driver obeys the posted limit, the travel time from Peachland to Merritt will now be 65 minutes, compared to 59 minutes and 30 seconds when the limits were higher.
When the speed limit on the Connector was raised, there was a 33 per cent increase in speed-related collisions, according to a Ministry of Transportation statistical analysis.
However, the speed limit on the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt will stay at 120 km/h, as the government says there has bee no increase in collisions on that highway since the limit was raised.
In the Okanagan, the only other highway where the speed limit will be reduced is 97A between Sicamous and Grindrod. The speed limit has been cut back to 80 km/h from 90 km/h.
Overall, a three-year review found there has been an 11.2 per cent increase in serious collisions on those highway segments where speed limits were raised in 2014.
The speed limits will not be reduced on other Okanagan highways where it was increased four years ago. These include:
— On Highway 33, from Black Mountain to McCulloch Road, and between Rock Creek and Westbridge, the speed limit will stay at 100 km/h.
— On Highway 97 from Swan Lake to Monte Creek the limit will remain at 90 km/h
— On Highway 97A, between Armstrong and Enderby, the speed limit will stay at 100 km/h
The speed limit on the Trans Canada Highway between Salmon Arm and Golden will also stay at 100 km/h.
In 2014, the previous Liberal government increased the speed limits on 33 highway segments totalling 1,300 kilometres in length.
A review of serious accidents statistics for those highways since then, the NDP says, has found that crashes increased on 15 of those segments. These are the highway sections where speed limits are being reduced.