Should speed limits be raised?

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by Acey

South of Barlow where they rebuilt it, yeah. North of Airport Trail, yeah. The rest, no. A 130 limit (which means people doing 140+) if it's even a bit slick on that northbound curve going onto or coming off of Calf Robe... disaster. I'm as big an advocate of raising limits as anybody else, but you're asking for cars in the Bow River if you did that.



Stoney has absolutely nothing to do with the city... so there's that.

Design speed is 110, from what I understand, it'll be that eventually.

Originally Posted by Dion

Let's say the Deerfoot goes to 130.... You would then have drivers doing 140-150 and maybe higher creating dangerous driving conditions. I say leave them as they are and let those who are in a hurry to get somewhere fast go above the limit and take thier chances with tickets an all.

If I understand correctly the guy was saying people find their own safe travel level on a road, and ignore the speed limit signs. So if the limit on Deerfoot was raised to 130 his point is drivers aren't going to go faster than they already are, just that the cops can't ticket them anymore.

That section of Marine Drive he's talking about is ridiculously signed, though, I agree. I usually feel quite safe doing 75-80 through there.

[You Need a Thneed]

Anthony Henday and Stoney could easily be signed at 120. There is no reason why 120-130 isn't safe on those roads.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I forget what Stoney is but AH is 100. and there is speed traps all the time.

It too is 100, designed to 110, which the limit will get to eventually... but for it to go beyond that isn't the fault of Alberta Transportation and there's a lot of hurdles they have to go over to get it higher than that.

Originally Posted by clintb

130 on Freeways

Can't really generalize it like that. Calgary's such a mish mash... we have Memorial, Crowchild, Deerfoot, Stoney. 130 on Stoney or parts of Deerfoot would work, others would be carnage.

Either way no urban freeway anywhere has 130 limits; the 130-135 limits in Texas are in the middle of nowhere, and the roads without limits in Germany certainly aren't Deerfoot equivalents tearing through the middle of Berlin.

[Ace]

The first day Stoney trail opened in the north they had 110 signs up...it was awesome, they were changed to 100 in hours.

On Stoney trail between 14street and deerfoot trail you could easily and safely drive 130 through this stretch, flat and good visibility.

[flamesfan6]

well without reading this thread: all i can say is I hate the victoria city council

they are trying to get the speed limit changed from 50 to 40, not only in victoria but all of BC (default 40 instead of 50)

which is absolute BS - people here in victoria already go 40 in 50, don't need it to change to 30 in 40

[Codes]

Originally Posted by flamesfan6

well without reading this thread: all i can say is I hate the victoria city council

they are trying to get the speed limit changed from 50 to 40, not only in victoria but all of BC (default 40 instead of 50)

which is absolute BS - people here in victoria already go 40 in 50, don't need it to change to 30 in 40

It's kind of curious in Victoria. I was there last weekend, and I noticed people consistently drover under the speed limit.

[Travis Munroe]

Tough to argue the points. Very well done video focusing on facts.
I also agree with those who say lower speed limits could be related to distracted driving.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Dion

Let's say the Deerfoot goes to 130.... You would then have drivers doing 140-150 and maybe higher creating dangerous driving conditions. I say leave them as they are and let those who are in a hurry to get somewhere fast go above the limit and take thier chances with tickets an all.

Well, the point made in the video (which I agree) is that people deviate to a speed they are comfortable with, and this is the speed that is the safest to be in. If the majority of people are doing 120 on Deerfoot, then it can be argued that 120 should be the ideal speed limit, not 100. By raising it to 120, you would have more people obeying the law because they are in their safe speed zone. Traffic would also flow more smoothly as you don't have people going at different speeds and needing the brake or accelerate all the time.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Acey

In the video he talked about engineers making recommendations for raised limits for roadways designed for higher speeds but signed as lower.

That falls apart with Deerfoot; because like I said before, not only is it like 50% over capacity, but there's no way a report by engineers would state that the curvy bits of Deerfoot between Glenmore and 16 Ave should be signed higher. So to an extent, the police and media frenzy about Deerfoot is arguably warranted because they can simply point to the true fact that the road is built to a substandard for the number of cars that travel it.

If we're applying the logic in the video and talking about the city of Calgary, the argument in this thread should focus on Stoney Trail; as we know for a fact it is designed to 110 and is signed at 100.

Worth noting that "operating speeds and even posted speed limits can be higher than design speeds without necessarily compromising safety", per the (USA) National Cooperative Highway Research Program. Deerfoot could be signed above 100 but with advisories at places like 17th Ave and the Calf Robe Bridge. When the road is well over capacity the speed limit doesn't really matter because you can't attain it anyways, though a variable limit would then help with traffic smoothing.

[Acey]

Agreed... a variable limit would be the best option for Deerfoot.

[Swarly]

Originally Posted by Ace

On Stoney trail between 14street and deerfoot trail you could easily and safely drive 130 through this stretch, flat and good visibility.

I find that if traffic is light, 140 is no problem from end to end on stoney. That is where I usually lock in my cruise at night, at no point can I not see far enough to see danger ahead.

driving home from work on stoney I find 120-130 just fine as long as there are no 100 strugglers in the left lane.

only thing I'm keeping an eye out for is radar, that seems safe, make everyone paranoid about tickets and they lose attention to what they should be watching.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by MattyC

with Canada's main cities being so far apart, I would like to see an autobahn type structure to the highways.

Agree with this with one caveat:

Driving test standards need to be raised for a pass, and there needs to be higher standards for driving schools and those that issue the tests.

Talking to someone who came from Germany he mentioned that the standards of driving are higher there and begin at the teaching and licensing.

[Bigtime]

It would be fantastic to have Autobahn level road design and speeds, unfortunately we just don't have the population density to make it happen in most of the country.

I still hope that in the near future the QE2 can be 3 lane divided all the way between Calgary and Edmonton, restricting trucks to the right lane and middle lane only to pass.

[Northendzone]

wonder how folks would feel if they increased the speed limits to 120 - 130 and then implemented a zero tolerance policy towards speeding and jacked up the speeding fines.

Personally I'd be ok with this since I only do 120 where the speed limit is 110 (other than passing).

[jammies]

What we really need is high-visibility, high-tech signage that can be updated in real time to modify speed limits based on time of day and weather, at least for major arteries like the Deerfoot. Noon, midsummer, dry? 130 km/h. Midnight, midwinter, snowing? 80 km/h.

[Bertuzzied]

Yes. Airdrie to downtown Calgary in 5 minutes bitches!

[Chingas]

Originally Posted by jammies

What we really need is high-visibility, high-tech signage that can be updated in real time to modify speed limits based on time of day and weather, at least for major arteries like the Deerfoot. Noon, midsummer, dry? 130 km/h. Midnight, midwinter, snowing? 80 km/h.

100% This^

A potential option that might be more feasible province wide, would be to have a wet/dry limit and or a summer/winter limit. I'm not sure why we have to pick one limit for a myriad of different conditions.

With reference to the Autobahn road network, I drove on it and I didn't have any special German training. Was my presence a threat to the rest of the people on the road? I think this is over played, and the majority of people are already self policing their speed to what they are comfortable with. Sure some people get carried away, but the current limits aren't stopping them any way.

[undercoverbrother]

At work, so I have not watched the video.

• Does increasing the speed limit make roads significantly safer?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by jammies

What we really need is high-visibility, high-tech signage that can be updated in real time to modify speed limits based on time of day and weather, at least for major arteries like the Deerfoot. Noon, midsummer, dry? 130 km/h. Midnight, midwinter, snowing? 80 km/h.

If a driver isn't smart enough to know they can't travel 130 km/h due to road/weather conditions, perhaps they should have their licence taken away, be taken to the coast, put on a row boat and cast a drift.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by jammies

What we really need is high-visibility, high-tech signage that can be updated in real time to modify speed limits based on time of day and weather, at least for major arteries like the Deerfoot. Noon, midsummer, dry? 130 km/h. Midnight, midwinter, snowing? 80 km/h.

Why do we need that?

My brain is already capable of taking into account the time of day and weather and driving the appropriate speed.

Do you drive 100 km/h on Deerfoot in the middle of a snowstorm?