Speed Kills... your pocket book

[frizzlefry]

Originally posted by speedog
Well, serious collations are something to be concerned about.



Edit- should've quoted frizzlefry just above, btw nice quick ninja edit.

like a bunny.

[rage2]

Originally posted by Mibz

The funny part about that line is that's what the city calls those cameras.

http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Traf...t-cameras.aspx

[rage2]

Originally posted by speedog
You don't seriously believe this, do you?

Estimated cost of $100,000,000.00 for that Bowfort Road over pass (link) means that almost 285,000 50+ tickets would've had to have been doled out or over 666,000 25+ tickets. Those are might big numbers especially when one considers that 15,180 speed-on-green tickets were issued at that intersection in 2011 and the speed-on-green cameras have only been around since 2009 (link). Somehow the math just isn't working.

The project was budgeted for $70m, but revised update shows $100m. There was funding on the $70m, so it was only short $30m. In 2012, the city handed out $40.8m in fines.

http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Traf...t-cameras.aspx

The math works out if you only throw in a couple of intersection safety upgrades a year.

Originally posted by a social dsease
By far the worst speed limit in Alberta is Hwy #1 though Banff National Park. Brand new mint condition 4 lane divided freeway with a median and generally low traffic volumes, and the speed limit is.....90km/hr??? Completely ridiculous. It should be 110km/hr right to the BC border just like it is up until Canmore.

Of course we all know what the reasoning is behind the 90km/hr limit, it's because of the animals. Yet the entire stretch of highway has a huge animal fence on both sides of the road, plus animal overpasses/underpasses. The fence is obviously extremely effective; I honestly can't remember the last time I ever saw an animal on the road anywhere in BNP, so why the reduced speed limit? If there was no fence, then ok, the lowered limit makes sense, but with the fence its redundant. After the fence was built the speed limit should have gone up the very next day!

let's compare this with the next stretch of road (#93 through Kootenay Park in BC). Zero fencing, always tonnes of animals on the road (clearly due to the lack of fence), 2 lanes only, very hilly and windy, yet the speed limit is the same! Clearly #93 can justify the 90km/hr limit, but Hwy 1? It just doesn't make any sense....

It used to be 70km/h there!

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?threadid=334477

Originally posted by rage2
I drove this section twice over the weekend. It's a huge stretch of highway between banff and Lake Louise. The highway is very wide, and 70 felt like going 20 in a residential zone. There's fencing all around the area so bears and deers can not get through. Makes no sense.

I decided to drive 70 on the right lane for the stretch and fuck was it dangerous. Not because of the wildlife, but because of the closing speed of other drivers on the road. Everyone was driving at least 120. Drivers had to slam on the brakes to avoid me, it was insane. I had to pick my speed back up to 100 to feel safe, and even then I was getting passed by absolutely everyone. At the end of the 70 zone, an RCMP car was parked dishing out tickets. What's funny is a few km's past the 70 zone (speed went back up to 90), there were bears on the side of the road.

[oilerfan4lyfe]

Originally posted by speedog

This is the real problem - far too many both over-confident and under-capable drivers who, for the most part, drive around in a personal fog, oblivious to how other drivers are reacting to their dumb-ass antics. Let's maybe fix our current system before we start increasing the limit at which these idiots put themselves and others in peril.

This is so true...let's face it, people here absolutely suck at driving and what's worse is that they somehow think that they can text/talk on their phone but drive perfectly.

Regardless, some speed limits in this city are completely obsolete. If Colorado can have 80 MPH limits on their highways why can't Stoney be 130km/h? It's a new road and it's decently maintained. I'd much rather have a higher limit with enforcement for people.

My solution would be to have high speed limits, but really nail people down for speeding on those roads. Make Stoney 130 then give people $400 tickets for going 150 on it. That way the city still gets their money, but most regular people can get around the city a little quicker legally. If you still want to speed even when the limit is 130 then you're basically accepting the large fine.

This city has also gotten ridiculous with cash grabs for speeders. Perfect example is Country Hills Blvd and Beddington Trail. They widen the road, remove the lights from Country Hills Blvd, yet they reduce the speed to 60 going eastbound right at the Beddington exit just so the cops camped up the hill by the golf course can pick people off. I guess making it 60 closer to the golf course like it was before they made the intersection "better" wasn't enough time for cops to nab people. There are fricken cameras everywhere now which cause people to brake when going through green lights (even if they're just going the speed limit) or to slam the brakes when the light turns yellow and they should be going through. People who can't afford fines here drive in fear of tickets rather than just flowing with traffic, which to me is a lot more dangerous. It would be nice if the left lane on Deerfoot could always go 120-130 without worrying about cops picking people off for just going with the flow, but that can't happen here. Therefore, we're stuck with idiots who go 100 and block everyone because they fear a cop might be lurking up ahead.

Driving through the States in busy cities really points out the difference. In rush hour, you go as fast as the car in front of you...it doesn't matter if the limit is 55 MPH and you're all doing 70 because a cop on the side of the road simply won't care unless you're driving like a douche. That's the way it should be.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by ercchry

"KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS"

with sub-sections of
-left lane, not keeping up to flow of traffic
-not moving over for faster traffic, when safe to do so

make the fine stiff, and enforcement high with a massive media campaign

Mount camera on overpasses, capturing plates of cars traveling in the left lane.

1st 2 captures are free, beyond that it's $10 per capture?

Just watch the left lane stay empty now when passing on the left costs $ but if you want to go fast, you can pay for it.

[kenny]

Originally posted by speedog

You don't seriously believe this, do you?

Estimated cost of $100,000,000.00 for that Bowfort Road over pass (link) means that almost 285,000 50+ tickets would've had to have been doled out or over 666,000 25+ tickets. Those are might big numbers especially when one considers that 15,180 speed-on-green tickets were issued at that intersection in 2011 and the speed-on-green cameras have only been around since 2009 (link). Somehow the math just isn't working.

With the numbers you referenced, it's not too far off even though I was kidding. Typically these projects are funded with Provincial and Municipal funds, there could even be a Federal portion.

If they build the interchange, then lower the speed limit for the TCH underneath the bridge to 70km/h, along with some help from the Provincial and Federal govt they could have this interchange paid off faster than the Port Mann toll bridge in Vancouver.

If they use the same payoff timeline as the Port Mann bridge, the city can fund it entirely from the camera revenue and we can divert Provincial and Federal money to the SELRT.

This can be my "Even Better Idea #1", Kenny for Mayor.

[speedog]

Don't think it'll fly, kenny. The numbers are still off.

And besides that, think of all the beyond members who'd be building new threads to crab about your 70kph speed limit on a divided highway.

Never the less, will soon be slogging along Deerfoot NB in the afternoon rush at much less than the posted limit, maybe even in the left lane. Just for kicks though, I might (actually I will) be in the right lane going faster than the left lane as that's how Deerfoot NB works around Peigan in the afternoon rush. Pfft, left lane. Right lane is where it's happening.

[Moonracer]

Originally posted by speedog
Don't think it'll fly, kenny. The numbers are still off.

And besides that, think of all the beyond members who'd be building new threads to crab about your 70kph speed limit on a divided highway.

Never the less, will soon be slogging along Deerfoot NB in the afternoon rush at much less than the posted limit, maybe even in the left lane. Just for kicks though, I might (actually I will) be in the right lane going faster than the left lane as that's how Deerfoot NB works around Peigan in the afternoon rush. Pfft, left lane. Right lane is where it's happening.

The right lane on deerfoot goes faster in rush hour because there are lots of people exiting. In the left lane nobody's exiting and just staying put, therefore going nowhere.
Then when you pass by the turnoff there are people entering and it slows down again. But still faster than the left lane.

[speedog]

Originally posted by Moonracer
The right lane on deerfoot goes faster in rush hour because there are lots of people exiting. In the left lane nobody's exiting and just staying put, therefore going nowhere.
Then when you pass by the turnoff there are people entering and it slows down again. But still faster than the left lane.

So the trick is to know which lane to cruise along in and for how long - been doing this for 6 years now and right lane is better on most days NB in the PM rush from just after Glenmore until just before 17th. After Memorial, take your pick.

[KLCC]

In light of that video...

http://globalnews.ca/news/800793/sho...limit-lowered/

Cole's note:

Should the speed limit in B.C. be 40 km/h?

That will be the question on the table for a vote at the upcoming Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention in Vancouver next month.

The organization, which is the advocate for local government in the province, will look at whether lowering the speed limit on municipal streets is the best move for communities around B.C.

Currently, if not otherwise posted, the speed limit inside a municipality is 50 km/h and outside it is 80 km/h.

[89s1]

Originally posted by speedog

So the trick is to know which lane to cruise along in and for how long - been doing this for 6 years now and right lane is better on most days NB in the PM rush from just after Glenmore until just before 17th. After Memorial, take your pick.

I drove home with a coworker once, and they were absolutely blown away with how much smoother and faster my drive was than theirs just because i switched lanes 3 or 4 times up the length of deerfoot.

[schocker]

Originally posted by KLCC
In light of that video...

http://globalnews.ca/news/800793/sho...limit-lowered/

Wow

[ZEDGE]

Just watched this, a bit behind..lol

Very interesting. Can't say I disagree with what he is saying.

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by KLCC
In light of that video...

http://globalnews.ca/news/800793/sho...limit-lowered/

Infinite facepalms cannot express how I feel right now..

[DeleriousZ]

[Maxt]

Originally posted by rage2

The funny part about that line is that's what the city calls those cameras.

http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Traf...t-cameras.aspx

They have ISC confused with ATM...
Its sad how far they city will go to justify being just plain dishonest...
Part of this, is that everyone in government realizes it would be political suicide to put a toll on roads, so this whole traffic ticket for safety bs has become a stealth way of collecting tolls..
Yes I know, don't speed, don't pay ad nauseam....
It would be interesting to do a FOI request for the setting of speed limits on certain roads, especially some of the more silly limits..

[frizzlefry]

Originally posted by Maxt

Its sad how far they city will go to justify being just plain dishonest...

Its all about how you report stats. The CPS will say "We increased speed enforcement by 25% in 2012 and collisions are down 15% the past 5 years!" But using their own stats you'll see that collisions were already steadily down the past 5 years. The was a 10% drop in collisions between 2009 and 2010. They increased enforcement revenue by 19% in 2011. That resulted in a SMALLER drop in collisions. It was only a 4% drop after they increased their ticket revenue.

Not saying they are making it worse, but more that speed enforcement has almost nothing to do with the collision stats. That 4% collision drop when they increased revenue by 19% likely had more to do with the warm winter we had.

[Silent Runner]

The video was an excellent demonstration of of how completely arbitrary reasoning, for setting low speed limits, can cause more problems, than this practice might actually solve. There are several stretches of road in North Calgary, that I absolutely hate driving through. If you are a professional driver, and want to protect the value of your driving license, you have to be a rolling, "road block", for 85% of other drivers that don't give a hoot what the sign says.

I want to be able to drive my sport sedan as fast as the wing-nuts, in 60 ton, rock-hauling trucks, without facing insane $250+ fines and points on my license.

I'm not a speed limit, nanny jerk or anything, in fact I've spent most of my 35 year, driving career generally pushing the posted limits, and haven't ever smacked into anything myself. (been t-boned 2X, by guys running traffic control devices). It drives me absolutely crazy, that day after day I hear the same non-sense that "speed Kills" on multiple media, yet I never really see it going on. Most of the time, I see people who are not using enough speed, or acceleration, to safely merge with existing traffic flows causing traffic upsets and accidents.

The News Media have never in my recorded memory, reported an accident caused by a driver attempting to merge into 100kph traffic, at a "too slow" 50-60kph, and causing a chain reaction (or near) crash-up?? Thats bizzare! I've never seen a car accident, or near one, ever caused in heavy traffic, by a car driving 50kph over the speed limit. It does happen, but it is the anomoly compared to folks that cant wind it up to pull onto a busy freeway. I'd say that 95% of the near misses, and about 7-8, out of the 12 actual bang-ups, I've ever witnessed, were due to people not using the required amount of speed to be safe in their actions. The other 4-5, seemed to be due to the fact that the drivers were not paying attention to what was going on in front of them.

I'd like to see road safety and speed enforcement that make sense.

[Maxt]

http://jalopnik.com/utah-raises-some...ium=socialflow

[dirtsniffer]

1,000,000+ views now