Enforce existing laws before raising speed limits: Cutler

We’ll have “50 cars in a lineup behind a truck”

Doug Ford’s commitment to raise speed limits on the 400-series highways to 110 km/hour won’t solve congestion problems, but could actually make them worse, says Shane Cutler of Cutler TCMS Inc. (Transportation Compliance Management Services) and CutlerEast Inc.

Transport trucks will still be governed at 105 km/hour.

“I don’t disagree with Ford on the concept, but are we ready for it?” Cutler asks. “Winter is just starting. Ontario doesn’t enforce the speed limits it has now; auto drivers could drive across the province at 120 km/hour, and most of the time it would go unnoticed.  

“We should be looking at proper enforcement of existing laws before we announce higher limits,” says Cutler, a risk management professional who works with trucking companies to ensure their drivers are fully trained to drive safely. He is only too familiar with the driving habits of truck drivers and personal auto drivers on the 400-series highways and elsewhere.

“Speed and space are a driver’s best friend,” Cutler explains. “When you increase speeds for auto drivers, you are actually reducing space between them and the trucks ahead of them because trucks can’t drive the same speed. When our weather changes and we’ve got 50 cars in a lineup behind a truck, they can’t see what’s going on in front of it. It’s just going to increase collisions.”

On October 2, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a press conference that the speed limit on all 400 series highways will be raised from 100 km/h to 110 km/h “where it is safe to do so.”

 “Earlier this year, we raised the speed limit on 10 additional sections of the 400 series highways, and today I’ve directed the minister to raise the speed limit to 110 kilometres on all 400 series highways where it is safe to do so,” Ford stated in his remarks to reporters and guests at an East York event highlighting the Ontario Line subway project.

In an email dated October 4, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria’s office told Road Warrior News that while Ontario “continues to monitor highway operations,” there is currently no plan to increase the speed at which transport trucks are governed, which is 105 kilometers per hour.

Cutler would like to see speed cameras in place along the 400-series highways: “We could pave the 401 with gold, in the money Ontario would make with a camera system,” he says. “Drivers do not take the posted speed limits seriously now because of lack of enforcement.

“If we would just enforce our existing laws, we’d have no problem. We should fix our existing problems, before we move on.”