I went up to Dave & Buster's in Vaughan, near Highways 7 and 400. I confronted the young kids in their slammed Civics and tarted up STis, and said, "Okay, dudes, who's got a pink slip they want to put up? I got a four-year-old diesel-powered automatic transmission Volkswagen Jetta station wagon, and this silver-haired old man is ready to take on any of you. Anyone got the guts?
"That Natalie Wood look-alike can drop the hanky for me; that Christina Aguilera look-alike can drop the hanky for you."
Well, it didn't happen exactly like that.
I was cruising along with the flow of traffic on the 401 at just under 140 km/h. I thought about the recent furor generated by OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, that anyone doing 50 over the limit is automatically a street racer, and wondered what it would be like to be a Bad Boy.
So I nudged the accelerator just a titch, and barely saw 150 on the clock.
Wow! I'm a street racer!
In a Volkswagen. Jetta. Station wagon. Diesel. Automatic.
It was so much fun that a few weeks later I tried it again, this time in a 70-hp three cylinder sub-1.0 L Smart car. Okay, so it does have a Ferrari-style Formula One paddle shifter.
And seconds after I backed off from this lofty speed, an OPP paddy wagon went flying by me – no emergency lights – as if I were painted on the pavement.
C'mon, Julian. Get a grip. You can't even convince your own employees to buy into this nonsense.
And I read recently that a cop from another jurisdiction stopped a cop in a marked cruiser, who was allegedly driving more than 50 km over the limit. So much for that "we're-all-in-this-together" theory.
We build highways that are capable of these speeds. We have cars that are capable of these speeds. There is considerable doubt we have drivers that are capable of these speeds, but until or unless you choose to do something about that, you can't keep trying to be King Canute, driving back the tides, trying to keep us from driving at these speeds.
Ontario drivers are voting with their right feet, every single day.
You are proud of the fact that Ontario has the safest highways in North America. Fair enough. And there's no doubt that we shouldn't ever be satisfied, and seek to be even better.
But this little speed vendetta of yours is a complete and utter waste of time, and of scarce police resources.
According to a recent story in the Toronto Star, as of last weekend 5,000 vehicles had been impounded by your new edict, their owners subject to massive financial penalties that will continue to accrue due to raised insurance premiums.
Has it had any effect whatsoever?
Recently, your minions stated that speed-related fatalities have been reduced by 41 per cent from last year, hinting, if not directly claiming, that the street racer law is responsible for this dramatic decrease.
Just as similar claims made to support photo radar 12 years ago proved spurious, this one stinks of statistical skulduggery too.
First, every car crash is "speed-related" to one degree or another. If nobody is moving, i.e. there is no speed, then there are no crashes – unless a stationary car falls off a bridge.
Second, a change of this magnitude to a "mature" statistic like this clearly cannot be attributed to any single intervention, and surely is an anomaly. If there is any joke about statistics, it's that two points make a straight line, three points make a trend. You barely have two points here.
Third, the police seem to still be catching "street racers" in undiminished numbers, which suggests that this intervention is not in fact slowing down many people; anyone with eyes can see the same thing on any stretch of controlled-access highway in this province.
So even if 41 per cent is a robust number, wouldn't we notice a simultaneous decrease in the number of street-racer arrests, and in average speed on the highways?
Not to mention that this procedure flies in the face of a thousand years of British common law jurisprudence, turning the cop into the judge, jury and executioner. The punishment is meted out with the alleged perpetrator never having a minute in court, let alone his day.
(By the way, if this sort of thing turns your crank, there's a petition on this very issue on the web at: petitiononline.com/civil013/.)
Ontario's good traffic safety record has been there for a long time, far longer than this recent endeavour, far longer than you, Mr. Commissioner, have even been in office, so claiming any credit for it at all is fatuous.
Ironically, these speed racer stats were also quoted in a recent Star report of a Victoria Day holiday tragedy where three young women died going approximately zero km/h, after doing a U-turn on a country road. Two apparently weren't wearing their seatbelts, a disturbing sign, but when you get T-boned by a transport truck, seatbelts aren't likely to help.
Here's my bet as to why Ontario has such good overall safety numbers: most such statistics are based on deaths-per-so-many-vehicle-kilometres travelled. It is well known that controlled-access highways are by far our safest roads, because the opportunities for T-bone or head-on crashes – by far the most dangerous type of car crash – are virtually eliminated.
How ironic, again, that highways are also by far our fastest roads.
And I'm guessing that Ontario has a higher percentage of traffic travelling on highways – 401 et al. – than just about anywhere.
Hence, better overall safety numbers. Just a guess.
Not that I am trying to make light of street racing. Okay, I am, but I am not condoning it. Sure, it is an issue, but statistically it is a very small issue.
And automatically slapping that label on anyone who goes 50 over the artificially low speed limit (20 over what I think should be the real limit) isn't going to help.
If you want to do something intelligent about speed on our highways, try following the lead of other jurisdictions that have done it successfully.
The key? Set a realistic speed limit, one that the driving public will buy into, and enforce it consistently.
Most Ontario highways can easily handle 130 km/h. They do, for hundreds of thousands of cars, every day.
So make that the limit, make sure we all know it, and apply the needed enforcement.
Geez, if they can make it work in France – and they have – why won't it work here? Surely it's worth a try.
Oh yeah, it wouldn't hurt if we could do something about our lane discipline too.
Imagine, roads that are faster, more efficient and safer!
Dare to dream, Julian. Dare to dream.
Wheels' chief auto correspondent Jim Kenzie can be reached at jim@jimkenzie.com
Toronto Star
I'd like to know what part of 401 he was on where traffic was flowing at 140. I do agree on atleast reviewing raising the speed limit on atleast certain parts of the highways.
I'd like to know what part of 401 he was on where traffic was flowing at 140. I do agree on atleast reviewing raising the speed limit on atleast certain parts of the highways.
It certainly wasnt in brampton or mississauga. If I drive more than 20 below the limit around here, I consider it a success!
I'd say 130kms south bound 400 for me on the way to work is with the flow of traffic. 140 maybe a litle high. After you read Fatino's response in saturday's star, read the article one or two after it. Its from a lawyer and how he is reaping the financial benefits of this new law. Then ask yourself "why does the OPP love this legislation?" "Cash grab".
Impound fees.
Cops going to court, what is now? minimum 3hours of court time whether any thing is done or not?
Imposed fines.
Until we acknowledge that this is a political cash grab and Fatino's second concern is public safety then we are all getting fooled.
Jim Kenzie's article is irresponsible, ill-timed and irrational, especially coming from a writer who considers himself Canada's top automotive journalist.
His actions, and subsequent bragging in print, diminish the good work being done by OPP officers – and their municipal colleagues – province-wide.
Last year, 451 people died on highways within OPP jurisdiction, almost half of them because of speed, drinking and driving and not buckling up.
That's totally unacceptable to me and my officers and should be unacceptable to every Ontario motorist, including Mr. Kenzie.
The Star, by running the article, is not only promoting excessive speed on our highways, it is sending a message to others that it is acceptable to break the law and put oneself and other motorists at risk.
The fact that Mr. Kenzie has extensive experience in testing cars at high speeds on closed tracks world-wide doesn't give him the right to flaunt the rules of the road here in Ontario.
I wonder what reaction he'd have received from those who lent him the Volkswagen Jetta and Mercedes-Benz Smart car if he'd had to call them to let them know the vehicle he was driving was in a police impound yard and would be unavailable for media test drives for the next seven days.
There is no need and certainly no excuse for driving more than 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit.
I would remind Mr. Kenzie and Wheels editors that the OPP doesn't set the speed limits – we just enforce them!
I invite Mr. Kenzie and other writers of the Wheels sections who do not support the "street racing" legislation to accompany my officers the next time they have to knock on someone's door and tell them their father, mother, son and daughter won't be coming home.
The Ontario Provincial Police will continue its efforts to make this province's highways the safest anywhere, one irresponsible driver at a time.
WOW... that article was awesome... everything i ever thought of this legislation Jim Kenzie had brought it up.... I think ill be watching motoring 2008 for a long time
+ 1 he's got my backup.
Edit: And wow Fantino really made a number on Mckenzie and the Toronto Star :O
btw today i did 160 km/hr on the highway ...i had to pass a freaking stone slinger as it threw up a few stones on my hood...luckily the German paint was still in tact
i felt really bad when i hit 160 i wanted to head to the local opp office and turn my self in...i feel really bad
sorry mr fantino please dont take away my new car
LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
The name kaminarineon is purely fictional...i make up alot of stories so i feel accepted by the srtforums community
ahahaha that is gold. I would like to put Fantino and every one of his nutswingers on a lie detector and ask if they have ever driven over 150 km/h in their life?
Jim Kenzie's article is irresponsible, ill-timed and irrational, especially coming from a writer who considers himself Canada's top automotive journalist.
His actions, and subsequent bragging in print, diminish the good work being done by OPP officers – and their municipal colleagues – province-wide.
Last year, 451 people died on highways within OPP jurisdiction, almost half of them because of speed, drinking and driving and not buckling up.
That's totally unacceptable to me and my officers and should be unacceptable to every Ontario motorist, including Mr. Kenzie.
The Star, by running the article, is not only promoting excessive speed on our highways, it is sending a message to others that it is acceptable to break the law and put oneself and other motorists at risk.
The fact that Mr. Kenzie has extensive experience in testing cars at high speeds on closed tracks world-wide doesn't give him the right to flaunt the rules of the road here in Ontario.
I wonder what reaction he'd have received from those who lent him the Volkswagen Jetta and Mercedes-Benz Smart car if he'd had to call them to let them know the vehicle he was driving was in a police impound yard and would be unavailable for media test drives for the next seven days.
There is no need and certainly no excuse for driving more than 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit.
I would remind Mr. Kenzie and Wheels editors that the OPP doesn't set the speed limits – we just enforce them!
I invite Mr. Kenzie and other writers of the Wheels sections who do not support the "street racing" legislation to accompany my officers the next time they have to knock on someone's door and tell them their father, mother, son and daughter won't be coming home.
The Ontario Provincial Police will continue its efforts to make this province's highways the safest anywhere, one irresponsible driver at a time.
451 people died on the roads, and HALF are caused by speeding, DRINKING AND DRIVING, OR seatbelt offenses. COME ON. So there were 225 deaths due to these three things. D&D must have caused 150+, and lack of seatbelts around 50.
So I'm guessing that there were less than 10 deaths in regards to "Speeding". Which is probably about the same as the number of spoon related deaths.
Second Bolded point:
Let me answer your question Julian. They would say "Wow, what a retarded law. How would something like that pass?" At this point, if they were a car enthusiast, they probably would cancel any travel plans through ontario, proceeding to SCREW Ontario's tourism economy further contributing to everything else that's going wrong in North America. Yeah, that's what we need, we need more reasons for people not to come to Canada. Great.
Third Bolded point:
Yeah, and you contribute to these weak laws by supporting them, both with your force and with your political agenda.
Fourth:
There's something called "A point of diminishing returns". We are officially beyond that.
You know what would be another good law? Let's make everyone live in a giant bubble, and not allow them to do anything that could cause them to chip a nail. That would make everything safer.
Julian Fantino, you have to know how ridiculous you sound. Take your political agenda elsewhere, and give us back our highways. Either change the speed limits to something reasonable, or bring back the old fines.
I just wrote an e-mail to Jim Kenzie thanking him for his article. I think he deserves it. About time somebody with a public face stood up against this ridiculousness.
Last edited by LondonSRT4 : 06-04-2008 at 04:47 PM.
i just wanted to input that i know more than my fair share of officers both OPP and other, and not one of them think that its a good idea, the limits are already too low, look at the states or at england, both of them are 75mph... and thats in the city in england its more like 80-85 depending where u are in the country, but they enforce those limits, i dunno, in my opinion the government is going to pay for this in the future, its only a matter of time before the supreme court says it viloates section 8 of the charter and then they will owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to the people that got screw by this, i have lost so many ppl to drunk driving, i lost a good buddy from highschool last week... and what gets done about that? nothing, yet a violation that accounts for 0.035% of deaths on ontario roads gets front stage? bullshit, its only for the benifit of fantino, (future runner up for prime minister) and his want for a few planes that this happened, i have more to say but i just gets me so angry.... its complete bs... and thats all i have to say for now.
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Just a slight nudge above 150 km/h and Jim Kenzie joins Fantino's Most Wanted List
...i had to pass a freaking stone slinger as it threw up a few stones on my hood...luckily the German paint was still in tact 
please dont take away my new car 
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