Friday, December 6, 2013
Richmond Review · Page 13
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REVIEW drivewayBC.ca |
Welcome to the driver’s seat
The 100-click limit is commonly referred to as unrealistic on today’s welldesigned highways. Keith Morgan
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Hike those highway speed limits, say a third of BC residents suburban highways and A significant number of 120 on the Coquihalla British Columbians clearly is reasonable. In my don’t buy the safety manexperience, it is not tra that speed kills. speed alone but excesIn fact, according to a sive speed combined new Insights West poll, with over-driving the conducted in partnership weather/road condiwith Black Press, 37 tions that kills. It is also percent of residents (and 39 percent of drivers) More than half of true to say that that dramatic speed differbelieve a higher speed those polled believe entials of traffic is also limit should be posted a major contributor to on our major highways. the province should Currently, 100 km/h is the not bring back photo road carnage. However, while that may be true maximum on most freeradar. on congested urban ways, while 110 km/h is roads it is less so on posted on the Coquihalla Keith Morgan the highway where few Highway and parts of the people are travelling Okanagan connector. below the posted limit and I don’t “The fascinating issue on this question see another 10 km/h hike making for is the gender gap,” said Mario Canseco, major mishaps. Vice President, Public Affairs at Insights Not surprisingly, the online survey of a West. “While half of men in BC would representative provincial sample also like to see a higher speed limit, just shows that a majority of residents one-in-four women concur with this believe that photo radar should not view.” be brought back. More than half of However, it was surprising to see that those polled (53 more than half (55 percent) believe percent) believe the speed limits should be left alone. the province should Another five percent want to see not bring back limits lowered. photo radar, which It’s surprising if you read the newswas introduced in paper letters pages and listen to the the 1990s as a province’s radio talk shows, where the measure to curb 100-click limit is commonly referred to speeding, but as unrealistic on today’s well-designed was abandoned highways. in 2001. As a frequent driver of the network, While almost I have to agree that a 110 limit on the
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half of residents aged 55 (48 percent) would like to see photo radar coming back, support is decidedly lower among residents aged 18-to-34 (36 percent) and 35-to-54 (31 percent). I supported photo radar initially because when used in high-collision locations, elsewhere in the world, it has a remarkable record for reducing death and injuries. It never operated that way in BC and soon became public enemy number one where it was perceived as merely a cash cow for greedy provincial government. Residents were also asked about the quality of British Columbia’s roads and infrastructure. More than seven-in-
Giving warms the heart. Donating a coat can warm two at a time. Black Press is collecting coats for kids in support of the Greater Vancouver Builder’s Associations’ 17th Annual Coats for Kids Campaign to be held Nov 19 - Dec 7. Last year over 3000 coats were collected by the GVHBA members for distribution by the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau and other agencies.
Bring in your coats to the Richmond Review #1-3671 Viking Way, Richmond
ten (74 percent) rate it as “good” (68 percent) or “very good” (6 percent), while only 22 per cent deem it “bad” (19 percent) or “very bad” (3 percent). Overall, only 16 percent of British Columbians believe that the province’s roads are “not too safe” or “not safe at all” for motorists, while four-in-five (82 percent) consider them “very safe” or “moderately safe.” This is the first of four surveys Insights West will conduct during the next year in partnership with Black Press. We hope these poll findings will find their way in the current speed limit and traffic safety review by the provincial government. This week in Driveway, our “Question of the Week” and “Drives-U-Crazy” spots focus on speed-related issues please participate online. keith.morgan@drivewaybc.ca About the survey: Results are based on an online study conducted from October 23 to October 27, 2013, among 838 British Columbians who are aged 18+ and are Your Insights panel members. YourInsights.ca is Insights West’s in-house access panel offering on-demand samples for both clients and research suppliers looking for Western Canadian populations. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age and gender. While statistical margins of error are arguably not applicable to online panels/online studies of this nature, we have assumed that the same margins of error apply as if it were a true unweighted random probability sample with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty. To view the detailed data tabulations go to www.insightswest.com
Question OF THE WEEK: Should the maximum speed limit on the highways be raised to 110 km/h and 120 km/h on the Coquihalla network?
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK!
Go to drivewayBC.ca to submit your answer.
Safety Tip: During the months of November and December there is an 86 per cent increase in crashes where a pedestrian is injured compared to July and August. Always be on the lookout for pedestrians – especially in dark, wet weather when visibility is limited, at intersections and near transit stops.
Find more online at
drivewayBC.ca