It turns out that speeding irresponsibly in a large truck,
placing personal wealth ahead of the welfare of others, is one of the greatest
sins in the Universe....
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson
Last weekend I drove out to
Kingston to spend a weekend with friends. It was a very rainy day with poor
visibility. I drove the speed limit which is 100 km/hour on the 401.
Occasionally I inched up to 105 km/hour, but not more than that. As per usual
there were lots of big rigs on the road. For the safety of all concerned the
big rigs driving in Ontario and Quebec are required to uses electronic speed
limiters that cap their speed at 105 km/hour. This applies to
commercial motor vehicles that:
·
were built after December 31, 1994
·
are equipped with an electronic control
module
AND
AND
·
have a manufacturer's gross vehicle
weight rating of 11,794 kg or more
Exemptions
apply only to a limited number of vehicle types, such as ambulances or fire
trucks.
If
these big rigs are legally mandated to have speed limiters which cap their
speed at 105 km/hour, how was I getting passed like I was standing still when I
was driving 105 km/hour? These potential weapons of mass destruction were
driving like bats out of hell and it wasn’t just a one-off situation; I was
passed by at least 6 big rigs in my 2.5 hour journey to Kingston. And to add
insult to injury before they passed me they were hanging 6 inches off my
bumper. If I had to slow down suddenly I would have been killed instantly.
Every
driver has the right to feel safe on our highways and byways and that’s not
possible with a trucking industry out of control. What good are speed limiters
if no one is enforcing the law? The problem is that the speed limiters can be
turned off and when law enforcement is nowhere to be seen, they speed at will, endangering
all of vehicles around them. The only way to solve the problem is to have the
speed limiters permanently on with no option to disengage. Only then can the
rest of us be safe from these weapons of mass destruction in an industry that
is clearly out of control.
The driver behind
you wants to go 5 miles per hour faster.
Highway axiom
Make
someone smile today.
Geri
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