Ontario turns to technology to cut highway speeding
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 | 9:57 AM ET
CBC News
Ontario's minister of transportation says it will soon be mandatory for large commercial vehicles to have built-in speed limiters.
"There's no question that there is a correlation between speed, and crashes and collisions. I mean, we've had evidence of that," said Donna Cansfield.
"If a truck is going excessively and someone cuts in front of them, it's pretty hard for those trucks to stop."
A speed limiter is a built-in microchip that can preset a truck's top speed.
The government proposal, which would cap truck speed at 105 km/h, is supported by the Ontario Trucking Association, citing improved safety and fuel efficiency at the lower speeds.
Concerns about street-racing cars have also renewed calls for the return of photo radar and air surveillance.
In the wake of serious street racing incidents, Hamilton police Chief Brian Mullan said he wants photo radar back.
The radar systems, which automatically photograph and ticket the owners of speeding vehicles, were put on some Ontario roads in the early 1990s by the New Democratic government of the day.
It was dropped in 1995 by the Conservatives, who had made killing photo radar an election promise.
Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino has called for the return of aircraft patrols on Ontario highways and for increased powers to seize speeding vehicles.
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