Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Eastern Canada Cops Just Don't Have a Clue

The OPP don't have the first clue as to why Canada has such a horrid accident rate.

I'm sure you've all heard me compalin about the "grid" of streets we all live in. But think about it: We have straight roads, with lights to tell us when to go, when to stop. How f**king complicated can it get?? Yet we still have big, giant bumpers on our cars and extremely high crash standards! Why? Because we hit everything! WTF?!?!

I'm sure Hazel and Drew both understand what I'm talking about. In most other places than NA, the roads aren't straight, and not always wide enough for one car, let alone two. Everywhere else, roads are 90% paved, have reflectors embedded in the pavement and rumble strips along the sides and on the lines. The cars are more powerful and have smaller bumpers. The speed limits are higher. WTF?!?!?!

Face it, people here can't drive! I have only been able to draw one conslusion, and that is we are so completely unchallenged by our transportation network that we either have no skill behind the wheel, or are so complacent in our abilities that we no longer pay attention. When something (like God forbid a corner) comes along, Canadians are lost. We need warnings, barriers, and guidance to help make it around the simplest of turns. Still, we manage to hit most things going in a straight line! WTF?!?!

Rather than fix an existing problem though, the Police have decided to continue to let older people cause accidents and always blame the younger person. As best I can estimate it all has to do with population size. Think about it; the baby boomers are the ones driving the SUVs and minivans that cause most of the accidents. But there are about 1/4 their amount of younger drivers. If those younger drivers are punished and picked on enough, they will be afraid not to obey every law that's set out. That means less work for the OPP, and a future where the accident rate will drop to an "acceptable" rate.

The whole mess of speeding and the police's obsession with it is laughable. Why do we have the lowest speed limits around the G9 nations and yet the highest rate of motor vehicle fatalities? It isn't because we're all trying to break the sound barrier. It's stupid, ignorant, and untouchable baby boomers who fail to use their signals, don't shoulder check, failure to calculate time and distance to objects (which is a genetic skill that all stereoscopic vision mamals have including robins, crows, tigers, etc), or use common sense, courtesy or even respect. But it's easier to slow down the less populous younger generation. Why?

At 35 mph if you strike a pedestrian with a small vehicle (think Fesitva/ Metro) you are twice as likely to kill that person as you would be if you hit them at 30 mph (a well-known and well-quoted fact from the British MOT). It's a fact that applies to driving in England though, where residential property often fronts onto busy streets. I doubt there are many houses along Highway 7 in Toronto... But the police use this sort of reasoning to justify their strict enforcement of our ridicouslously low speed limits. It's as if they want us to beleive that there is difference in the survivability of a 105 Km/h crash to a 100 Km/h crash. Unfortunately, those same rules don't apply beyond 60 Km/h due to the law of relativity. After 60 Km/h your odds of survival are non-existant if you are an unprotected pedestrian.

All of this relates to street-racing because there is an agressive group of young people who make a bad name for the rest of us with their silly antics. They don't care about spectators, laws, or anything else. But these people are not us, they are a generation below us (the "Y" generation). These juveniles, new to driving, see what older people get away with and follow the example. It's the same as it was in the1950's; rebellion against "the machine" in order to distinguish one's self from the crowd.

An aftermakret exhaust or intake filter doesn't make someone a nutcase. Being unaware a vehcile is sold with turn signals as standard equipment, or being an MLI (Middle Lane Idiot) does make you a nutcase. Think about this little fact/scenario:

- It is illegal to pass on the right of another vehicle except in the case of a street-car.
- It is illegal not to move right if you are not passing another vehcile.
- Most people, including Ontario Provincial Police Officers drive in the middle lane of the highways.
- Therefore, if you drive down a highway in the middle lane, you've reduced that 3-lane road into a 2-lane road.
- Because most people instinctively move to the left to pass, that left lane gets clogged.
- When people following too closely in the left lane are surpsied by a vehicle that jumps into the left lane they often slam on their brakes in a mad panic.
- 99% of cars cannot see around a minivan or SUV
- from personal observation, approximately 40% of drivers in minivans / SUVs ride their brakes
- Now everyone slams their brakes on and produce an accordian effect.
- Someone in the middle of the line of cars doesn't realize the minivan in front is really braking this time and slides into the back of the minivan.
- All of this could have been solved by the moron in the middle lane just moving over to the right!!!

Now someone might tell me that "well you can't expect people to be perfect all of the time!" Consider this: I work for an airline. Next time you go on vacation, how comforting would it be if a mechanic didn't fix something perfectly (think about the Air Transat A330). Well don't blame the mechanic because "you can't expect people to be perfect all of the time!"

To cut this short since I'm missing my telly shows:

Failure to use or being guilt of: Turn Signals, MLI, Shoulder-checks, Time-to-distance, Courtesy, & Respect cause more accidents than speeding ever will. Drivers on the Autobahn don't hit everything around them because they know at 150 mph you just aren't going to walk away. The Police need to fix what is wrong, not just gang up on their younger peers.

How to fix things:

Speed cameras (fixed locations, not mobile)
Police enforce points mentioned above
Stricter driving license testing, training
Remove the "younger-person-caused-it" bias. It's a type of racism.

Bravo!! You're 100% correct in your argument. One fact that you failed to mention specifically, is the role of the Provincial Courts in this scenario. Cops have to come down on ALL traffic offenders, not just speeders. Its a well known fact that speed blitz are nothing more than cash cows for the gov't coffers. Cops have to start nailing the BAD DRIVERS and the courts have to convict! None of this non-sense of fighting it and negotiating a lesser offence only to pay a nominal fines and get a slap on the wrist.

But what can you expect from a society where the cops are allowed to abuse their powers and set bad examples on the road? How many of you have witnessed a cop rolling up to a red light only to hit the cherry flashers and siren, drive through or even worse, scoop by in the left hand turn lane only to turn it all off after they have cleared the intersection? Must be time for a donut break!

We have to start addressing the bad habits of people and not just milking them for money. Something as simple as mandatory testing for EVERYONE every 5 years. Attach to that a $50 fee for the re-testing and there you have a tool that will improve driving over the long term and will provide financial revenues for the gov't so they can stop treating speeders like ATM machines. Hey, here's a novel idea, put some of that money back into the road systems so we can all be safe?

Having driven both in Europe and Asia, I have to agree that North Americans are the worst lot of drivers I've ever seen. And it's not speed, its driver ability and respect for your fellow drivers that?s missing.

That and the fact we refuse to accept any sort of responsibility for our actions. All you have to do is look at the Legal scene to understand that argument.

Anyways, I'm tired of ranting. For those that know me, yes, broken record. If we all just do our little bit, things will improve.

Cheers!!

Interesting, Interesting.. though unfortunately you can't change everything over night.. not perfect.. needs work but can't be changed over night.. though I agree with most of it..

though the thought of having speed cameras is the biggest cash grab of all.. I remember that they almost threw a government out! if they kept that up in Ontario in the mid 90's that whole government would of never been re-alected! I know in Brittain they set those speed posts on fire.. or even cut them down and take them home!

ya ya speeding is bad blah blah blah.. but so is gauging the public and taxing them to death!!

I definately like NRSSTC's idea of testing every 5 years.
I have seen a number of times at accidents that a translater has to come before things can get processed. What kinda crap is that? If they are driving in canada should they not be fluent in english. How can they be safe on the roads if they cant understand the signs or the rules of the road.
The last I checked English and French are the official languages of Canada.
but hey thats my 2 cents.

When I was in Toronto last weekend, I noticed that the traffic was moving very fast on streets such as Yonge and many others. I have never witnessed people driving 100-110 kilometers in 50 kilometer zones through a business district!

The sad thing about it is that I felt so compelled to just keep up with traffic, so I wouldn't get rear ended!

Preach on brother Ghosst!