Road system is designed for faster speeds

Re Speeding needs to become socially unacceptable, June 9 This makes for a catchy headline, but unfortunately ignores the many studies that have been done on traffic flow.

It would appear that the safest situation is when most motorists drive at the same speed, thus removing the need for constant lane changes and braking.

The studies show that something like 85 per cent of drivers do drive at the same speed — one at which they feel comfortable and safe.

Almost without exception, that speed is about 15 to 25 km/h higher than the posted limit, indicating that perhaps motorists have a better feel for what is safe than the engineers and politicians who set the limits.

The writer may be too young to recall that when Hwy. 401 was built, the limit was 70 miles per hour (equivalent to about 113 km/h), which was obviously thought to be safe.

I don’t recall there being any campaign to lower the speed limit, but with the advent of the oil crisis in the 1970s and the change to metric, the limit was reduced to 100 km/h and in the U.S. to 55 m/h. This was done to save fuel and reduce the need for foreign oil, and had absolutely nothing to do with safety.

The problem with safety would seem to revolve around not the 85 per cent of “lawless drivers,” but rather the 10 per cent or so who want to obey the law, thus creating rolling road blocks for the rest. (There will always be the 5 per cent who feel their time is more important than others’.) Ken Sutton, Cobourg