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Ontario is all proud of it's new "street-racing laws". Any car going 50 km/h or higher above the speed limit is automatically deemed to be "racing" (regardless of if it was, you know, racing). This means a minimum $2,000 fine, immediate loss of your license for 7 days, and immediate impounding of your car for 7 days.
That doesn't sound so bad, does it? It sounds okay on its face to me. After all, 50 km/h over the speed limit sounds absurdly high. But the problem in Ontario is the speed limit on the major highways is in no way what is the "real" speed limit. On the 401, the major highway in the province, the average speed on the road is 130-140 km/h. In fact, traffic going the 100 km/h "limit" is an obstacle and is VERY frequently passed by the 18-wheelers that go faster than that. Going the speed limit on this road is a bad idea.
Thus, people (including cop cars, all the time) go 130-140 km/h on a regular basis. The only time you ever get pulled over when going this speed is when the particular officer is on a power trip or the quotas need to be met.
So now we're at a point where if you go 10-20km/h over the REAL speed limit, you're going to become a "street racer" with massive punishments. The real sensible thing to do is to set a sensible speed limit on the 400-series highways. These are massive, wide-laned, barriered roads with very slight turns. They used to be a higher speed limit until they lowered them in the 70s to "conserve fuel".
On top of this absurdity, the articles I've been reading about a press conference the Ontario Provincial Police had seems to positively gloat over the punishment they've dealt out to young drivers:
Yes, speeding and street racing are both problems. But one of the problems is, by virtue of the absurdly low speed limit, you devalue the whole purpose (and likely adherence to the speed limit). This province isn't raising the speed limit simply because its become somewhat of a cash cow. It's a ****ed up province.
That doesn't sound so bad, does it? It sounds okay on its face to me. After all, 50 km/h over the speed limit sounds absurdly high. But the problem in Ontario is the speed limit on the major highways is in no way what is the "real" speed limit. On the 401, the major highway in the province, the average speed on the road is 130-140 km/h. In fact, traffic going the 100 km/h "limit" is an obstacle and is VERY frequently passed by the 18-wheelers that go faster than that. Going the speed limit on this road is a bad idea.
Thus, people (including cop cars, all the time) go 130-140 km/h on a regular basis. The only time you ever get pulled over when going this speed is when the particular officer is on a power trip or the quotas need to be met.
So now we're at a point where if you go 10-20km/h over the REAL speed limit, you're going to become a "street racer" with massive punishments. The real sensible thing to do is to set a sensible speed limit on the 400-series highways. These are massive, wide-laned, barriered roads with very slight turns. They used to be a higher speed limit until they lowered them in the 70s to "conserve fuel".
On top of this absurdity, the articles I've been reading about a press conference the Ontario Provincial Police had seems to positively gloat over the punishment they've dealt out to young drivers:
It was enough to drive one young man to tears after he became one of the first stopped by the Ontario Provincial Police after the law — aimed at drivers doing more than 50 kilometres over the speed limit — came into effect today.
“A young man started crying as his mom’s car was impounded,” said OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley, unable to say if the tears were prompted by the temporary loss of the car, the potential fine, or in anticipation of mom’s wrath.
Another driver, who just got his new car, promptly lost it after he was clocked doing 174 km/h on Highway 401, which has a 100 km/h speed limit. “He only had the car for two days, and the car will be impounded longer than he owned it,” Woolley noted.
“A young man started crying as his mom’s car was impounded,” said OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley, unable to say if the tears were prompted by the temporary loss of the car, the potential fine, or in anticipation of mom’s wrath.
Another driver, who just got his new car, promptly lost it after he was clocked doing 174 km/h on Highway 401, which has a 100 km/h speed limit. “He only had the car for two days, and the car will be impounded longer than he owned it,” Woolley noted.
Yes, speeding and street racing are both problems. But one of the problems is, by virtue of the absurdly low speed limit, you devalue the whole purpose (and likely adherence to the speed limit). This province isn't raising the speed limit simply because its become somewhat of a cash cow. It's a ****ed up province.
Cross-country truckers HATED it! 
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