The Ottawa Police Service is reminding drivers that telling an officer “I thought I was doing 150” will not overturn a stunt driving charge on Highway 417.
The police Road Safety and District Traffic Unit said an officer observed a driver going 164 km/h on Highway 417 at Carp Road on Monday.
If you drove that fast on a German highway, you wouldn’t get a “stunt driving” charge.
You’d get a Diesel station wagon riding your bumper, flashing his brights.Speed limits on German highways fluctuate a lot more than in Canada. German highways also have more curves and less ice.
The speed control is built in.
In North America, there’s almost no vehicle safety standards, road standards are questionable, and the licensing process is a joke.
So instead of addressing the problems, and logically allowing a high rate of travel given the distances and populations involved, many jurisdictions have created this concept that any speed over a certain number is automatically stunting.
Obviously doing 150kph through a residential area is a problem, but there’s so much empty road!
That said, North Americans need to build trains. Better ones. And better neighborhoods.
150 Km/h is really fucking fast, dude.
Even I dont drive that fast on long ass highways. I do drive over 100 (everyone does) but never that high. 165km would scare me.
@ArmchairAce1944
Having driven on the Autobahn and like roads in Europe, it is scary. At first.Provided you’re in a car that can handle that speed (e.g. Not an SUV or pickup, but something with tight steering and proper brakes), you get used to it over a bit of time. Start at 130 and bump it up sad you get comfortable.
There are lots of rules. No smoking, driving coffee or anything that takes your hands off the wheel or your eyes of the road. Stay out of the fast Lane unless passing. You need a copilot to adjust the AC and radio if you have it on.
It wouldn’t work at all in North America with our vehicles and drivers.
@Anarki_
LOL, 100 years of car and oil lobbying money has entered the chat.
Is that the part where I said that licensing needs to be more restrictive (ie fewer drivers) or the part where I said vehicles need to be inspected (higher cost, fewer drivers) or the part where I said North America needs to build better rail networks (lower demand for roads)?
The better rail networks is what I was commenting about.
Oh I think I misunderstood your intent completely!
Trucking actually, it produces a lot more jobs than rail.
Damn. 93 miles per hour isn’t even that fast.
High number scare puny man.
and the licensing process is a joke.
Idk, I grew up in Vancouver, and live in the UK… from talking to people who are in the process of/just got their license, my licensing experience was in most ways a lot more stringent and thorough. And I’ve had my license for over a decade.
They’re just talking about changing it so that people have to wait 6 months before doing their road test after passing the theory test. There’s also only one step.
I had a learners license after passing the theory, then a road test to get my new driver license, then ANOTHER road test to get my full license.
People here can do their theory test, book for the next available road test, which fair enough could be several to 6 months in the future, and then be fully licensed. They can optionally stick a giant P magnet on the front and back of the vehicle to warn others that they have just passed in the last month…but it’s not mandatory.Edit: the only thing on the test here that I think should be implemented in Canada is being required to lift the hood(bonnet🎩) and point out the dipstick, oil fill spout, washer fluid fill spout, and then how to access the spare tire.
Ah, but you don’t have unrestricted autobahn in UK do you?
Sounds like it’s also a joke from your description. The process has been a default rite of passage for young people since the ‘50s, but traffic and our tolerance for safety has changed a little bit since then.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣…no
National speed limit is 70mph, so not far off Canada’s 110.
Edit: it was by no means an easy go, I had taken my first road test twice, first time they failed me for not braking hard enough at a stop sign. Marked as rolling stop for the reason for failing.
Edit 2: having put on my reading comprehension hat, I now understand that you were talking about the UK licensing. 🤦 Been a long day. And yeah, absolute shambles. A fair number of people seem to be really incensed over the proposed wait between theory and road test…
I love racing and fast cars and driving fast in general. I’ve also driven the Autobahn and felt no need to drive faster than 130kph. To me its a risk/reward thing. I’d rather arrive alive but a bit late than have something like a tire blowout - which at 120kph is a problem but very unlikely to be lethal - absolutely ruin my day or even my life.
I race cars and would comfortably cruise at 240 on the autobahns in the unlimited sections all day.
Yes, and they have good roads and cars must pass annual inspections. Would never happen here with the shit boxes I see out there.
That’s 100mph, a bit fast but worthy of a headline? It’s a daily occurrence here. Is this a road the runs through a city or something?
This is an expressway in Kanata, an Ottawa suburb, near a major regional highway interchange point. Google Map to see for yourself.
If it were an Autobahn, it would be likely at or near an “urbanized area” with an enforced 130kph/80mph speed limit. But Ottawa is also cold right now, daily highs of -5 to -17°C this week (23 to 1°F) with snow some days, so I wouldn’t feel that safe going more than 120kph/75mph even when the roads appear to be clear (black ice is a thing and road salt doesn’t work effectively below certain temps) and less at night.
I see, thank you, being from the northern US myself I deal with a lot of snow and ice and people really go too fast, especially the ones in 4WD vehicles. It’s definitely dumb to speed in those conditions.
Americans constantly drive 30mph over the speed limit?
On the highway sure, there is a stretch here between Milwaukee and Chicago and I’ve been doing 90 and some people still blow past me.
