Dear Editor,
Why is everyone in a hurry to get somewhere? Speed limits around town are lowered and people are out marching with a petition in hand to have it raised again. Before you decide what speed limit best suits our residential neighbourhoods, please consider a few things. When the speed limit is reduced by 10 km/hr, drivers have more time to respond. A vehicle travelling at a speed of 40 km/hr is able to stop much faster than one travelling at 50 km/hr. For those of you who are opposed to the lower speed limit, can I ask why you are opposed? Is the 10 km/hr reduction going to make you late for everything?
I am (obviously) a supporter of the reduced speed limit. Why? I have small children. A child can make a split second decision to chase a ball or a pet out into the street. They can ride their bikes down the driveway out into the street. How would you feel if you hit someone? Faster speeds mean you have less time to react, it takes longer to stop, and more speed equals harder impact.
Just an extra 5 km/h can double your chances of having a casualty crash. Imagine you are travelling at 70 km/h instead of 60 km/h. A pedestrian or another vehicle suddenly appears. In the time before you actually start braking, you will have travelled almost 3m more than a driver travelling at 60 km/h. This decision-making time, or reaction time, is the time it takes to recognize an emergency and then to brake.
A few kilometres per hour can make a big difference in seeing and reacting to an emergency. A car travelling at 70 km/h will take around 57m to come to a complete stop after the driver first notices an emergency. The same car travelling at 60 km/hr will take about 47m to stop. Ten metres is a lot of extra distance to travel in an emergency (www.drive-safely.org).
So, before you sign the petition or oppose the lowered speed limits, please consider that a slightly slower speed (that does not really add much to our daily commutes) might just save the life of a child, a beloved family pet, or a friend. It’s not just about Cimarron Blvd. it is about all residential streets where our family and friends live in Okotoks.
Tara Casey
Okotoks
