1454 replies to this topic

[eseedhouse]

I see no evidence whatsoever that phertyl insulted anyone at any point in this thread. On the other hand you are sidestepping requests for clarification and source material for the facts you are presenting.

He may not have, I don't generally keep track of names and it may have been someone else.

Still we have from people who oppose lowering speed limits such "gems" in this thread as "any brain dead half wit", "this crazy road", ""This is such a bizarro argument." and, from "rjag", "Eseed it appears you have a hate-on for anything with 4 wheels" which is a direct insult delivered to me by name.

None of these attracted any direct moderation.

[Mike K.]

When put into context none of those statements require moderation. However, we did ask you to tone things down when you suggested for rjag to "get a life" when his opinion differed from yours.

Respectful debate is a two way street and that's what attracts the caliber of participants to this forum that we are so lucky to have as regular contributors. Yourself included, of course.

[sebberry]

Here are a few excerpts of the minutes of the recent meeting of the CRD Traffic Safety Commission

rjag, where did you find the meeting minutes?

[Holden West]

I suggest you experiment by driving around at 40. Just make sure no-one is behind you because you will instigate fury. My brief trial convinced me 40 is excrutiatingly slow on most suburban streets. The only place it makes sense is where there is a lot of pedestrian congestion, like Cook St. Village mentioned prior. But then, they already have 30 zones anyway, don't they?

I think this initiative will die a quick death, like Mayor Fortin's Quadra St. bus lane idea.

[sebberry]

Heck, just driving at the posted limit half the time is risking your own life. Try moving from the right lane to the left lane on Blanshard while driving 50kph when everyone else is doing 65...

[rjag]

rjag, where did you find the meeting minutes?

I emailed the CRD Traffic Safety Committee http://www.traffic-safety.ca/ and started asking a lot of questions of their role, term limits and their 'authority' (and why their website was 4 years out of date!!!)

Had a nice reply from Chris Foord and I asked to be cc'd on their meeting minutes as is our right.

You should do the same as the more people become engaged the more the folks on these committees will realise that they have to consider the results of their agenda's and that they are accountable.

[sebberry]

Thanks.

It's almost as if they operate in secret.

[rjag]

My car has an average speed indicator as part of the trip computer so I made a point of resetting it for a few trips this week.

Trip 1 Uvic to Floyds Diner in Langford via the highway and back to Uvic. Commute time was 22 minutes and 25 and an average speed of 46kmh

Trip 2 was Uvic to downtown morning return. Average speed was 40 and commute time was 12 mins each way

Trip 3 Uvic to downtown pm return 38kmh

So for the most part my unscientific observation indicates to me that we are basically doing what is being discussed with only a few opportunities to pass the slower traffic such as buses, as a result of single lanes on some arterial routes & buses stopping in the single lane.

Please dont make my commute any worse than it already is....Anyway even if it was changed the vast majority of drivers would ignore the new limit and drive to the design and condition of the road

[Bingo]

My car has an average speed indicator as part of the trip computer so I made a point of resetting it for a few trips this week.

Trip 2 was Uvic to downtown morning return. Average speed was 40 and commute time was 12 mins each way.

Or if you averaged 50 you would save 2 minutes over averaging 40.

[Jason-L]

Please dont make my commute any worse than it already is....Anyway even if it was changed the vast majority of drivers would ignore the new limit and drive to the design and condition of the road

I suspect that's the intent, since speeding fines would be a nice revenue generator.

I find my average speed is fairly low around victoria, in part because I spend around 1/3rd of my travel time stopped at lights.

[sebberry]

Or if you averaged 50 you would save 2 minutes over averaging 40.

I'm guessing rjag's travel speeds would have included some 50kph stints. If the limit was reduced to 40kph, that could push his average speed down to 25kph to 35kph. That's slow for getting around any city.

[LJ]

I'm guessing rjag's travel speeds would have included some 50kph stints. If the limit was reduced to 40kph, that could push his average speed down to 25kph to 35kph. That's slow for getting around any city.

Well he said he was on the highway so I assume some of the time he was doing 90kph or better.

[concorde]

How about they synchronize the lights. I'm tired of driving up Blanshard and hitting every red light on the way out of town. It was bad 10 years ago and now with gas at $1.25/L there is no need for it

[rjag]

Well he said he was on the highway so I assume some of the time he was doing 90kph or better.

Exactly, I was waiting to see if someone noticed that part. I was very surprised that my average speed wasnt higher due to 50% of the distance being highway going anywhere between 70-100.

My trip computer calculates the average speed based on distance driven and time taken to go the distance. This means it takes into account all the stops etc not just velocity

[Bingo]

Well he said he was on the highway so I assume some of the time he was doing 90kph or better.

My posting was referencing rjag's run from UVIC to downtown.

We are only talking about a few minutes in time difference between 40 & 50, so by leaving a bit earlier it would be less stressful and safer.

[sebberry]

I wonder if Coun. Gudgeon will be driving her Porsche to the event?

https://www.facebook...94366734020400/

[amor de cosmos]

I wouldn't have thought speeding was such a problem. The things I notice most are people running yellow or red lights when they could have easily stopped & making *highly* questionable left turns. I see those things every day.

[Mike K.]

The City of Victoria has supplied us with a copy of the minutes from two recently council meetings dealing with the speed reduction proposal.

Minutes of the January 17, 2013 Council Meeting

Reducing Default Speed Limits for Municipal Roads

Motion:

That Council direct staff to forward the following resolution to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities for their consideration:

WHEREAS local governments are concerned about resident safety on municipal streets, and lower vehicle speeds reduce the severity of injuries to pedestrians in vehicle/pedestrian collisions;

AND WHEREAS consistent province-wide speed limits promote driver awareness and ease enforcement between municipalities;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia to amend the Motor Vehicle Act to limit the default speed limit on a highway in a municipality to 40 km.

Carried Unanimously

Minutes of the February 28, 2013 Council Meeting

Reducing Default Speed Limits for Municipal Roads – Follow up

Motion:

That Council direct staff to electronically distribute the resolution “Reducing Default Speed Limits for Municipal Roads” to member local governments of AVICC, with a covering letter from the Mayor inviting dialogue with the City of Victoria in pursuit of traffic safety initiatives and requesting motions of support for the resolution form individual local governments prior to the AVICC convention of April 12-14, 2013.

Councillor Isitt said that this is to provide motivation to help the resolution win at AVICC.

Carried Unanimously

[sebberry]

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia to amend the Motor Vehicle Act to limit the default speed limit on a highway in a municipality to 40 km.

Coun. Ben Isitt points out that the change would not mean lowering the speed limit on all municipal streets. In fact, speeds of major routes would be maintained.

Source


Ok... so.. uh.. which is it?

I see a heck of a lot of municipalities having to re-write their bylaws to permit 50 kph zones should this take place.

[drt]

I wouldn't have thought speeding was such a problem. The things I notice most are people running yellow or red lights when they could have easily stopped & making *highly* questionable left turns. I see those things every day.

YES! I know everyone thinks their city has the worst drivers, but this is one thing I've noticed in Victoria that I never saw back in St. John's. Here in Victoria a light that *just* turned red is essentially treated the same as a yellow. I see people take left turns just after the light turns red several times a day.