Speed

Have you ever wondered about the instruments that the police use to measure vehicle speeds on our highways? My favourite tool was LIDAR because it gave me the ability to accurately measure the speeds of individual vehicles. Although the laser must be used from a stationary position, either hand held or on a tripod, being able to target a specific vehicle made it superior to RADAR on a busy highway.

Just because we can go fast doesn't mean that we should. When it comes to the speeds set on our highways, many drivers look at it solely from an engineering point of view. Letting physics and what you can (or can't) see as your guide to personal speed setting does not take in the larger picture.

I frequently drive both the Trans Canada Highway up the Malahat and onwards to Duncan and back to North Saanich where I live. The Malahat is a dangerous part of the highway, has been forever and yet most, and I emphasize, MOST People, far exceed the speed limit.

I had an interesting conversation with a driver at the roadside one morning. I had stopped him for driving at 107 km/h in the posted 80 km/h zone entering a high collision area on Highway 4 east of Port Alberni. Speed is a particular problem as a primary contributor to collisions there.

"Why are you writing me a ticket for this? I wasn't driving dangerously." was his response to my request for his documents.

According to a study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers are substantially more likely to speed when using Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) or automations that combine ACC with lane centering than when not using either technology. The concern here is that abuse of the system will cancel out the safety benefit of having it.

I enjoy tinkering with electronics in my spare time and was pleasantly surprised to come across instructions on how to build my own speed camera system using a Raspberry Pi and Python based software that was freely available to download and use. You can probably create the whole system for less than $100!

This is a video from SAAQ in Quebec produced for a speed and distracted driving awareness campaign in 2020. The speed display in the video is showing real time traffic speeds from a pole mounted radar unit at the filming location. It's a striking visual reminder of how fast we often drive through a school zone.

This is a case where Timothy Drewcock appealed his conviction for speeding in traffic court. His position is that the JJP should not have admitted police radar evidence because there was no evidence explaining when and how the radar instrument used in the case was tested and what tests were made.

There's a little known secret that can be used to stop speeding in your neighbourhood. Make the roads more narrow! A wide, empty street just entices drivers to increase their speed. They will unconsciously readjust their perceived risk and drive at a speed based on how comfortable they feel driving on your street.

I found this observation on the Grist web site: "Speed limits are set by drivers voting with their feet. That’s a problem for everyone else on the street." It was accompanied by the following video explanation of the 85th percentile speed limit setting method. Fine if you are a driver, but what if you are some other form of road user such as a pedestrian or cyclist?