An evidence-based opinion piece authored by four road safety experts appears in the November 21, 2019 issue of Safety Network Newsletter of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP).
The piece states that, based on existing evidence, raising speed limits means that “crashes will be more severe, and that injuries and fatalities will be more numerous.”
The authors were motivated to write the piece out of concern for public safety, in response to the Government of Ontario’s consideration of raising speed limits on 400 series highways. The article points to irrefutable published evidence of the negative safety consequences of increasing speed limits.
The article was co-written by: Geni Bahar, PEng, President, Navigats, Inc.; Ezra Hauer, PhD, PEng, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto; Bhagwant Persaud, PhD, PEng, Professor, Ryerson University; Alison Smiley, PhD, CCPE, President, Human Factors North, Inc.
The Ontario government consultations on speed limits on Ontario highways close November 23, 2019.
The abstract of the article “On the expected safety consequences of increasing the speed limit on Ontario 400 series highways from 100 to 110 km/hr” is shown below.