For those interested in speed limits.

[Maxt]

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/publications...iew_Report.pdf

Interesting read, also interesting what BC implemented from it...

[nonofyobiz]

not interested in those

[charlie2]

thats 10 years old....

[Maxt]

It is , but it influenced BC's most recent changes that a lot of people don't like.

[cloud7]

The only thing of interest is why they didn't hire a Canadian firm to do this work.

[barnad]

I think this might be a question?That the only thing of interest is why they didn't hire a Canadian firm to do this work.

[revelations]

Crashes, however, appear to depend less on speed and more on the variation in speeds. The likelihood of a crash
occurring is significantly greater for motorists traveling at speed slower and faster than the mean speed of traffic.

Truer words have not been spoken.

If some clown is going 80 on the DF on a good day (happens all the time) then they are just as dangerous to other motorists around them as someone going 130.

[rx7_turbo2]

Two points I found interesting.

"The majority of motorists drive at a speed they consider reasonable, and safe for road,
traffic, and environmental conditions. Posted limits which are set higher or lower than
dictated by roadway and traffic conditions are ignored by the majority of motorists."

"A speed limit should be set so that the majority of motorists observe it voluntarily and
enforcement can be directed to the minority of offenders."

John Laurie Blvd in my neck of the woods is the perfect example. 30 years I've lived here, the speed limit has ALWAYS been 70km/h, EVERYONE drives it 80-85km/h. If The City raised the limit to 80km/h would everyone drive 90-95km/h? Of course not. But then they couldn't sit and poach responsible drivers every Saturday and Sunday morning now could they?

[Revhard]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2
Two points I found interesting.

"The majority of motorists drive at a speed they consider reasonable, and safe for road,
traffic, and environmental conditions. Posted limits which are set higher or lower than
dictated by roadway and traffic conditions are ignored by the majority of motorists."

"A speed limit should be set so that the majority of motorists observe it voluntarily and
enforcement can be directed to the minority of offenders."

John Laurie Blvd in my neck of the woods is the perfect example. 30 years I've lived here, the speed limit has ALWAYS been 70km/h, EVERYONE drives it 80-85km/h. If The City raised the limit to 80km/h would everyone drive 90-95km/h? Of course not. But then they couldn't sit and poach responsible drivers every Saturday and Sunday morning now could they?

I absolutely agree. They recently did a speed study of the areas of Langdon.
The approach road to the golf course development is about 1/2 a mile long, nothing around, and a sidewalk about 15 meters off the road. Speed limit is 40. Average traffic speed was over 80km/hr.
School zone posted speed is 30km/hr, average traffic speed was 33km/hr.
Road out of town with houses close to the road has a posted speed limit of 80, average traffic speed was 73km/hr or less, can't remember exactly, but it was under the speed limit by a bit. Proves people will drive what they feel is reasonable.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Calgary has so many roads like this, that I think the only reason the speed limits are where they are in many places is for ticket revenue. Some examples of roads I drive almost every day:

Anderson road - speed limit 80, flow of traffic is always 95-100

McLeod Trail south of Anderson road - Speed limit 80, flow of traffic is always 100.

Crowchild trail N/S between Kensington and Glenmore - speed limit 80, flow of traffic 100-120

37th St SW, 4 lane divided highway, speed limit 80, everyone does 100-110. It's much wider/safer than many areas of the Deerfoot or other highways.

Highway 22X - Speed limit 90, flow of traffic same as any other highway, 100-110.

And then there are areas of Deerfoot that are WAY more dangerous than many of the above roads, yet the speed limit remains 100 km/h, probably because it's impossible to set up speed traps on the sketchier areas of Deerfoot.

In rush hour, or poor weather, everyone is well under any posted limit anyway.

Not that they will ever raise the limits and kiss the ticket revenue goodbye, but the article is absolutely right that the vast majority of people just drive at what they felt comfortable. I think it was Montana where the average speeds overall dropped when they had no speed limits.

I agree with this quote, but spend 10 min driving in any city and you know this is definitely not how they set speed limits:

"A speed limit should be set so that the majority of motorists observe it voluntarily and
enforcement can be directed to the minority of offenders."

There are countless roads in Calgary that police could sit at and nail as many speeders as they wanted, immediately one after another. That tells me speed limits are too low, probably to bolster ticket revenue.

[b_t]

Crowchild east/west after McMahon is way too slow as well, speed limit should be 90km/h at least. The road is big and wide open with good traffic flow off to the sides and long onramps & offramps.. one of the best roads in town, with the speed limit set artifically low