Highway 401 in Ontario - busiest freeway in the world

[MrDisco99]

I did this drive a few weeks ago and while I did have to spend some time at customs, I don't recall having to stop at all on Huron Church Rd. now that it's much shorter.

When is that bridge supposed to happen?  I didn't see any signs of construction.

[SignGeek101]

The first part of the extension opened in June and extends from the old alignment to Labelle St. I believe the second section will connect to Ojibway Pkwy, then to the bridge.

The bridge should be complete by 2020, and I believe talks are between companies who want to build the bridge and the Canadian Government who is building it. I also believe the land acquisition process on the US side is complete, but I'm not sure.

[cbeach40]

I did this drive a few weeks ago and while I did have to spend some time at customs, I don't recall having to stop at all on Huron Church Rd. now that it's much shorter.

When is that bridge supposed to happen?  I didn't see any signs of construction.

Short answer, they expect to have a contractor in place some time in 2016, and construction work will commence at that time.

[haljackey]

On Oct 30 CBC will air a Marketplace story about speeding on the 401: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-speed-limits-1.3292975

[SignGeek101]

On Oct 30 CBC will air a Marketplace story about speeding on the 401: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-speed-limits-1.3292975

I heard about that. Everyone that has been on the 401 (including me) knows that the 100 speed limit is a giant joke. 

Going that speed, especially with heavier traffic (but not a traffic jam) probably results in more accidents.

I'll have to remember to watch that episode.

[US 41]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-speed-limits-1.3292975

24 hours, 37,000 speeders: 1 day on Canada's busiest highway

"More than 80% of cars on ON 401 were speeding. Ontario has some of the slowest highway speed limits in the world, but few people are actually obeying them, data from a CBC Marketplace investigation reveals."

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  Ontario does have really low speed limits. I was probably the only driver on ON 7 between Ottawa and Toronto that was going 80 km/h. I was getting passed by almost everyone. ON 7 should at least have a speed limit of 90 km/h. Actually had I have known the speed limit was going to be 80 km/h the whole way I would have taken 416 to 401 instead.
  In Toronto it is only common sense not to follow the speed limit. When everyone is going 120 km/h, you do 120 km/h. You're going to be a moving hazard if you're going 100 km/h while everyone else is doing 120 km/h. This is the same in every large city however. I typically go 65-70 mph on I-94 (a.k.a. The Dan Ryan Raceway  ) in Chicago even though the speed limit is 55 mph.

[jakeroot]

Toronto reminds me of LA. Highways are referred to using definite articles, and no one goes anywhere near the speed limit (less there's traffic).

[cu2010]

  In Toronto it is only common sense not to follow the speed limit. When everyone is going 120 km/h, you do 120 km/h. You're going to be a moving hazard if you're going 100 km/h while everyone else is doing 120 km/h. This is the same in every large city however.

Good luck being able to actually do 100 in Toronto half the time, though.

I just drove a large chunk of the 401 last month (from Cornwall all the way to the 402), and I was probably doing about 110-115 km/h the whole way. Was still getting constantly passed by people. Regarding Toronto, I actually got lucky and hit it at the right time where I could fly through at 110...though on the return trip, traffic was so bad I was lucky to be able to go 20!

It doesn't help that the Ontario police don't seem to actively enforce the 100 km/h speed limit...they must know it's too low!

[cbeach40]

Free flow speeds through the GTA tend to be in the 95-105 km/h range. As you get further out and into Eastern and West Ontario the FFS tends to rise a little more.

[jakeroot]

Free flow speeds through the GTA tend to be in the 95-105 km/h range. As you get further out and into Eastern and West Ontario the FFS tends to rise a little more.

I'm assuming the 95-105 km/h range is MTO-provided? A lot of what I've read, both here in and in the past, indicates that average speeds w/o traffic are higher than that (closer to maybe 110?)

[vdeane]

It doesn't help that the Ontario police don't seem to actively enforce the 100 km/h speed limit...they must know it's too low!

No idea why they don't enforce it, but they have lobbied vehemently against raising the limit to 120.

[US 41]

I saw this exact sign pretty much on ON 17 which has a speed limit of 90 km/h. I don't think they pull you over until you are going 20 km/h over the speed limit. I know 50 km/h over is considered reckless driving.

[haljackey]

CBC Marketplace story:

[SignGeek101]

Honestly, I think the whole thing on safety is BS. I'm sure the government (and OPP) are quite glad to be raking in $$ every year from people who want to be safe on the roads.

Just my opinion of course.

[Stephane Dumas]

Honestly, I think the whole thing on safety is BS. I'm sure the government (and OPP) are quite glad to be raking in $$ every year from people who want to be safe on the roads.

Just my opinion of course.

You're not the only one.  I think the same thing as well as that video titled "Speed Kills Your Pocketbook".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKdbxX1pDw

[cbeach40]

I'm assuming the 95-105 km/h range is MTO-provided? A lot of what I've read, both here in and in the past, indicates that average speeds w/o traffic are higher than that (closer to maybe 110?)

Not an official number, based on daily observation. Again, FFS definitely increases as you get out of the central part of the GTA. By the time you get out into the Eastern and West parts of the province it's definitely greater.

Bear in mind, the GTA portions of highways like QEW, 401, 409, and 427 are some of the oldest sections of freeway in the province and have some significant design compromises that will slow down drivers, even subconsciously.

It doesn't help that the Ontario police don't seem to actively enforce the 100 km/h speed limit...they must know it's too low!

No idea why they don't enforce it, but they have lobbied vehemently against raising the limit to 120.

What? No they haven't. They're enforcing the law they have. If the limit were increased, they'd support it. That's how policing PR works.

[vdeane]

What? No they haven't. They're enforcing the law they have. If the limit were increased, they'd support it. That's how policing PR works.

According to the Stop100 Facebook page, they've spoken out against raising the limit to 120/130 several times.

[MrDisco99]

I also posted this in the Ontario Highways thread, but looks like it may be more appropriate here:


I wondered what locals thought of this when I drove through there last month.  I was surprised to see the limit was only 100 along the entire length of 401.  Having foreign plates, I tried to stay under the radar by setting cruise at 110, and had to stay out of everyone's way because I was getting passed by everyone, except some trucks which likely are governed to do the limit.  I can see how this can cause some problems.

Here in the US speed limits are typically 65 or 70 mph between cities, and go up to 75 or 80 mph out west.  I've also driven in the UK and Ireland which has speed limits of 70mph and 120kph on their motorways respectively.  I've found that where the speed limits are higher, you tend to see less variance in the speed of traffic.  You're always going to have a few menaces weaving through traffic at 150kph, but the majority of the traffic stays in a narrower speed range and results in smoother, safer flowing traffic.

[MrDisco99]

What? No they haven't. They're enforcing the law they have. If the limit were increased, they'd support it. That's how policing PR works.

According to the Stop100 Facebook page, they've spoken out against raising the limit to 120/130 several times.

Of course they would.  Keeping limits low means they can keep their numbers up with little effort.

[jakeroot]

What? No they haven't. They're enforcing the law they have. If the limit were increased, they'd support it. That's how policing PR works.

According to the Stop100 Facebook page, they've spoken out against raising the limit to 120/130 several times.

Of course they would.  Keeping limits low means they can keep their numbers up with little effort.

I believe there is an official and unofficial answer to this. Officially, they will support whatever the law states is the limit. However, unofficially, I suspect there is some disagreement with having higher limits, because there may be increased difficulty with hitting quotas.

Occasionally, a law enforcement agency may disagree with higher limits on account of increased traffic fatalities (however untrue that may be), however, this is usually only in isolated cases. I couldn't say for sure which is the case for the OPP.

[cbeach40]

I believe there is an official and unofficial answer to this. Officially, they will support whatever the law states is the limit. However, unofficially, I suspect there is some disagreement with having higher limits, because there may be increased difficulty with hitting quotas.

Officially, the law says 100. So they and MTO have to stand behind that.
There wouldn't be any problem meeting quotas or anything if the limit were increased to 110 for example.

According to the Stop100 Facebook page, they've spoken out against raising the limit to 120/130 several times.

I wouldn't put much faith in a broad statement like that made by the Stop100.ca folks. That organization seems to be run by a bunch with the mental maturity and capacity of 12 year olds. Their complete lack of political and engineering competency has seemingly done almost as much to hurt their cause as help it. And trying to engage them in a rational discussion is a completely futile exercise.

[jakeroot]

I wouldn't put much faith in a broad statement like that made by the Stop100.ca folks. That organization seems to be run by a bunch with the mental maturity and capacity of 12 year olds. Their complete lack of political and engineering competency has seemingly done almost as much to hurt their cause as help it. And trying to engage them in a rational discussion is a completely futile exercise.

Perhaps if you took them seriously, it wouldn't seem as futile.

[vdeane]

I wouldn't put much faith in a broad statement like that made by the Stop100.ca folks. That organization seems to be run by a bunch with the mental maturity and capacity of 12 year olds. Their complete lack of political and engineering competency has seemingly done almost as much to hurt their cause as help it. And trying to engage them in a rational discussion is a completely futile exercise.

Everything on their site looks reasonable to me.  Of course, I don't put much stock into whatever drivel the insurance lobby and "speed kills" people put out.  Of course insurance companies like lower limits... speeding tickets give them an excuse to arbitrarily raise people's rates and increase their profit margins.  And it's not exactly a secret that governments are using tickets as a way to balance budgets.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I wouldn't put much faith in a broad statement like that made by the Stop100.ca folks. That organization seems to be run by a bunch with the mental maturity and capacity of 12 year olds. Their complete lack of political and engineering competency has seemingly done almost as much to hurt their cause as help it. And trying to engage them in a rational discussion is a completely futile exercise.

Perhaps if you took them seriously, it wouldn't seem as futile.

What part of trying to engage a group in a rational and professional discussion, and not being impressed by the outcome is not taking a group seriously?

[jakeroot]

I wouldn't put much faith in a broad statement like that made by the Stop100.ca folks. That organization seems to be run by a bunch with the mental maturity and capacity of 12 year olds. Their complete lack of political and engineering competency has seemingly done almost as much to hurt their cause as help it. And trying to engage them in a rational discussion is a completely futile exercise.

Perhaps if you took them seriously, it wouldn't seem as futile.

What part of trying to engage a group in a rational and professional discussion, and not being impressed by the outcome is not taking a group seriously?

I was responding to cbeach's accusation that Stop100 is "run by a bunch with the mental maturity and capacity of 12 year olds". Someone with "political and engineering competency" should be able to engage someone without generalizing the lot of them beforehand (which is what cbeach seems to be doing).

Nowhere have I seen any evidence that Stop100 has enganged in discussions with the government, short of letters and emails to local MLAs. Perhaps, living in Ontario, you know more than I do.