I'm curious if there is any evidence that this would improve traffic safety at all?
As far as I know Alberta traffic statistics doesn't keep track speed as a cause of pedestrian related incidents, and they chalk over 3/4 of incidents up too failure to yield by either the driver or pedestrian.
I also believe there is some work out of New Jersey showing speed limits have almost 0 impact on how fast 90some percent of drivers go, when speed limits are set too high, they continue to drive slower, and when speed limits are set too low they continue to drive faster.
And, the Montana reversal of no speed limits policy, has show that existence of speed limits in general has correlation with increased incidents.
Well it seems intuitive that lower speed limits will reduce deaths, we need our policy to be made on facts and not just things that seem right.
It also seem intuitive that since dentists tell us that it is toxic swallow a 1/4 cup of fluoride, that a drop a day in our water would be harmful. But we know that is not how dosing works, and our City counsel stupidly doing things that feel right instead of looking for evidence to backup their hair brained ideas has caused Calgary to be ridiculed by right thinking people from around the world.
Maybe instead of creating a policy that will cause people to drive a wildly varying speeds, distracted be constant monitoring of their speedometers and the worry that they might get fined for driving at what is a reasonable and safe speed. City counsel should look for ways to address the problem of cars and pedestrians not yielding to each other, the real cause of the few problems that their are.
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