Spent today driving in Montana and I was wondering when Alberta was going to adopt increased speed limits. Daytime limit of 75mph, night time of 70mph on the four lane. And daytime of 70mph on the single lane highways. 65mph at night. Nobody is driving 110km/hr on the four lane hi ways in Alberta anyway. Time to increase it
I don't disagree that we should increase the limit, but those interstates down south are so much better than our highways up here. For one, you can't get onto the interstate without merging. On our highways we have back roads that approach the highways, which increases risks of accidents if somebody isn't looking.
A lot of companies are moving towards vehicle tracking systems that alert the driver and employer if they exceed the speed limit. This means that the drivers have to stick to the official posted speed limit. I am all for raising the speed limit to 120 and making it clear that they will ticket for 130 and up.
The key part of the article is that they had the engineers look at each road and evaluate its design speed. They left it out of the hands of politicians and allowed the engineers to report on the safe speed of travel. (In typical engineering fashion, I am sure they base their math on a car with crappy brakes and bald tires.)
One thing they also do is look at differential speed. Causing more overtaking maneuvers to happen adds a lot of risk in highway driving. So one of the things you do is set the speed limit at a number which produces the lowest variance.
Design speed is based on something similar to a full size van. Most roads are designed at 120 and signed politically at 100.
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Here is a more comprehensive list of the changes. Looks like they targeted nearly all the places I could think of that could use a bump. Here's hoping the assessment for Highway 97 between Vernon and Oyama comes back as a positive. It's always been the worst offender in my regular travels between Kelowna and Calgary all these years.
Variable speed limits are also a great idea. I hope the trial goes well.
Here is a more comprehensive list of the changes. Looks like they targeted nearly all the places I could think of that could use a bump. Here's hoping the assessment for Highway 97 between Vernon and Oyama comes back as a positive. It's always been the worst offender in my regular travels between Kelowna and Calgary all these years.
Variable speed limits are also a great idea. I hope the trial goes well.
should be slower through all National Parks. There's more wildlife there, slow down and enjoy it.
The speed limit on regular highways is too low, cars handle better, stop faster, etc. There's no reason to keep it at 100.
With miles of fences and expensive crossings to keep the animals off the road. If you want to enjoy the scenery then pull off on one of the many side trails, but it's ridiculous the biggest highway in the country has to slow to a crawl through that area
EDIT: and BC is raising the limit on many single lane highways from 90 to 100, which pass through areas with just as much wildlife as around Banff but with no fences. There's no reason it couldn't be at least 100 through that area
With miles of fences and expensive crossings to keep the animals off the road. If you want to enjoy the scenery then pull off on one of the many side trails, but it's ridiculous the biggest highway in the country has to slow to a crawl through that area
Animals can't read and often get around the fences, so no, it's not ridiculous. Not to mention all the accidents that seem to happen, especially on the stretch near Lake Louise.
With miles of fences and expensive crossings to keep the animals off the road. If you want to enjoy the scenery then pull off on one of the many side trails, but it's ridiculous the biggest highway in the country has to slow to a crawl through that area
I think it's more worthwhile to note that they no longer have to reduce the speed limit to 70 (!!!!) in some areas during the summer for animals, not increase it. The maximum speed limit allowed in ALL national parks is 90 km/h, and they don't seem interested in changing it for the Trans Canada through BC and Alberta.
I like to set my cruise control to 10 km/h over the speed limit on all highways, and I find it funny to see people passing me a ton in the national parks (set cruise to 100), but then I pass them all between Canmore and Calgary (set cruise to 120). Something scary about driving 120km/h suddenly, but no problems going 20-30 over in the national parks?
For 120 limits, IMO, we need controlled access... no at grade crossings, interchanges only. And stricter enforcement of 'keep right except to pass' which BC plans to do. IMO the only roads in the province that should be raised at the moment are Stoney Trail SE, Anthony Henday NW, and highway 4 down between Lethbridge and Coutts which is divided and has pretty much zero traffic.
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Are there any plans to arrest drivers with Saskatchewan plates doing 80 on hwy 93?
I think I've mentioned this before, but some Alaskan highways require you to pull over and let people pass if there's more than 5 cars piled behind you. The 93 could really use that.
Raising the official speed limit will likely only push the unofficial speed limit up to 130-135. Doubt the province wants to go for that, so the only real way there can be an official speed limit increase is if it includes a long and concerted crackdown on speeding. The end result will be no change to highway speeds from today, but a lot of pissed off people with big fines.
Summary of Findings
The pertinent findings of this study, conducted to examine the effects of lowing and raising posted speed limits on nonlimited access rural and urban highways, are listed below. NMA's comments and clarifications are in [italics]
A review of the before and after speed data at each site revealed that differences in mean speeds, standard deviations of speeds, 85th percentile speeds, and other percentile speeds were generally less than 2 mi/h (3.2 km/h) and were not related to the amount the posted speed limit was changed.
When sites were grouped by the amount of speed limit change, the differences in percentile speeds for each group were less than 1.5 mi/h (2.4 km/h), irrespective of whether the speed limit was lowered or raised or the amount that the limit was changed. The average change in percentile speeds at sites where limits were lowered and at sites where speed limits were raised was less than 1 mi/h (1.6 km/h).
The small differences in before and after speeds were statistically significant due primarily to the large sample size collected.
At 34 locations, existing speed limits were posted within 5 mi/h (8 km/h) of the 85th percentile speeds. When speed limits at these sites were lowered more than 5 mi/h (8 km/h) below the 85th percentile speed, the mean difference in percentile speeds was less than 1 mi/h (1.6 km/h). [In other words, lowering the speed limit does not mean traffic will slow down.]
At 21 other locations, existing speed limits were posted more than 5 mi/h (8 km/h) below the 85th percentile speeds. When the agencies raised the limits to within 5 mi/h (8 km/h) of the 85th percentile speeds at these sites, the mean difference in percentile speeds was less than 1 mi/h (1.6 km/h) [In other words, raising the speed limit does not mean traffic will speed up.]
By defining driver compliance as the number or percentage of drivers that travel at or below the posted speed limit, major changes in compliance occurred when speed limits were raised or lowered. However, as reflected in small changes in vehicle speeds, driver behavior did not change, but the standard for measuring compliance, i.e., posted speed limit, changed. [Higher limits mean a greater number of drivers traveling at the limit instead of over it.]
Based on the free-flow speed date collected for a 24-h period at the experimental and comparison sites in 22 states, posted speed limits were set, on average, at the 45th percentile speed or below the average speed of traffic. [This means that, on average, only 45 percent of us abide by present speed limits.]
Only minor changes in vehicles following at headways of less than 2 s were found at the experimental sites with similar before and after traffic volumes. [People don't follow any closer when the limits are raised.]
The indirect effects of speed limit changes on a sample of five contiguous and adjacent roadways were found to be small and insignificant. [Changing a speed limit on one road does not mean that speeds on all roads nearby will change as well.]
There is not sufficient evidence, in this dataset, to reject the hypothesis that total crashes changed when posted speed limits were lowered more than 5 mi/h (8 km/h) below the 85th percentile speeds. [Lowering the speed limit does not reduce the number of crashes.]
There is not sufficient evidence, in this dataset, to reject the hypothesis that total crashes changed when posted speed limits were raised more than 5 mi/h (8 km/h) below the 85th percentile speeds. [Raising the speed limit does not increase the number of crashes.]
__________________
-James
GO FLAMES GO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Typical dumb take.
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I wonder if this popular video had anything to do with it. It made way too much sense, so perhaps got into the right hands.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazypucker
I think the problem in Alberta is that people always go way over on the speed limit. If you post 110, people will general go 140, and if you change it to 140, then people will probably go 170...
That wouldn't really happen. People tend to drive at whatever speed feels right for the particular conditions and the road. Limits can be higher or lower, but most people will do what they think is reasonable.
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That wouldn't really happen. People tend to drive at whatever speed feels right for the particular conditions and the road. Limits can be higher or lower, but most people will do what they think is reasonable.
This.
I'll be honest and say I pretty much ignore the speed limits to an extent and go the speed I feel comfortable at. 140 feels plenty safe on a lot of stretches of highway. I don't think I've ever touched 170 and felt "This is a safe cruising speed".
The speed limits only effect on me is "How big of a ticket will this be" or in BC it's "will I be walking home"...
