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I started this thread partly because of some of the comments made in the various gun threads about how dangerous driving can be.
This has nothing to do with guns but reminded me of a question I posed years ago to Transport Canada on 3 separate occassions and never got a response.

I've driven all over this country and the highest posted speed limit I've seen is 120kph. Why does the government allow cars to be built and sold in this country that are capable of doing twice that speed?
I fully understand that extra power is a necessity when you need to pass a slower moving vehicle, but do we really need to be able to wind it out to 200kph to make that pass?
I seriously question our government's "committment" to the road safety of the Canadian citizen.

   

I've wondered that myself.

   

Good, it's not just me then

   

The speed limit here is 90 km/hr (and that is at least half an hour drive to get to that point, other than that its 60 or 80 on the highway). Why should my car be allowed to go faster than 90?

I mean, seriously, do you want to put a speedlimiter (or whatever that thing is called in English) on cars??

That said, people dont know how to drive any faster than 60 here anyway

   

No, installing a governor won't solve the issue cuz they can be tampered with or removed altogether.
I'm saying, quit building cars that are capable of going faster than snot right off the dealer lot.
I'm also NOT saying that cars should be limited to just 120kph, like I said, sometimes you need that extra power to pass, but not 300-400 horses worth.

   

Depends on what you want to haul over the mountains...

   

Some vehicles have built in governors that limit speed although it can go faster and the speedometer has lots left. I had a 2000 Blazer LS and although the speedometer's top number was close to 200kph it was limited to 160kph. At 160kph it just felt like you ran out of gas and had to let up on the pedal to get it to reengage. Many really can't go 200+kph......although it sounds fast.....it's not. Because of travel in places that have higher or no speed limit, people may want a car that will go that fast though.
I think the better question is why do we have the same or lower speed limits we had 40-50 years ago? Roads, tires, safety equipment and technology are literally light years ahead of where they were. Yet we plod along at the same pace.
Although I suspect it has more to do with revenue generation than anything else.

   

I agree. Many U.S. states are raising speed limits, so hopefully our provinces will wise up soon. 400-level highways should be maximum 120 km/hour.

   

It has nothing to do with the car. It has to do with the roads.

Roads are built with a 'slope' to help drain away excess water and prevent hydroplaning. It's a slight slope to the right. Roads also are sloped further on corners to compensate for centripetal force.


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An object moving in a circle creates a force to the outside of the circle. Like why a rope will go vertical when you twirl it around your head. Roads are also sloped on curves so that the outside force is balanced by the curve of the road, equalling the downward force of gravity. Gravity and the centripetal force are balanced - but only for a certain speed. This is why you will see a curve with a sign 'Maximum X KM/h' because the curve was designed to counteract the centripetal force to that speed only. On a perfectly built corner, you don't have to steer around it, if you are going the correct speed.

Straight roads aren't much different. They may have been designed to have some slight bumps or hills, that can be unnoticed at the posted speed. Start going faster, you start risking your car losing adhesion to the road surface, and leaving the road surface.

Now, the third factor. Tires. "Passenger" rated tires (Beginning with "P" as in P235-70R15) can maintain 140km/h for 15 minutes. Then they start to melt, separate and turn back into rubber. Not good at 140 km/h. Add to that that most people cannot handle those kind of speeds for long - and that is why speed limits are the way they are.

I have taken more than a few performance driving courses and many hours track time. Believe me when I say, people have no idea how to control a car going those speeds. They think they do, but they do not. It's a false sense of safety to believe because you have always gone 150km/h on a stretch of road and nothing has happened; to believe that it never will or that you can do those kinds of speeds somewhere else without consequence is a mistake.

The posted limit isn't there to inconvenience you, it's there to save your ass.

   

But where in Canada is there basically an unlimited speed limit?

Your last sentence is probably bang on though. I imagine there is a fair amount of revenue generated from speeding tickets, so I guess, just like cigarettes, the gov't is more concerned with making money than our actual health and safety.

With concern to current speed limits compared to 40-50 years ago, even some OPP officers have mentioned that increasing the limit on the 400 series to 120kph would not be a stupid idea, but it still doesn't address the issue that there will still be cars that are rated at twice that speed.
Don't get me wrong on this, my first car was a 1956 Nomad with a Corvette 350 loaded in it. My other muscle cars included a '71 Mach 1 with a 351 Cleveland and a '71 Chevelle SS. But I also didn't unwind 'em on public roads either.

   

But my issue isn't with the posted speed limits Dr. Caleb. I don't think they're too low, although a slight increase to 120kph on the 400 series wouldn't be a bad idea.
I just think it's dumb for the gov't to pretend they're worried about our safety by having posted speed limits on highways, then allowing cars to be built and sold in Canada that are quite capable of doing twice the limit or better.

   

A governor, manual or electronic is your only option.

Most cars are capable of high speed, regardless of engine size or power. It just takes longer to reach those speeds with a tiny engine.

You would literally need to combine a governor system with a automatic braking system to not only limit the speed the engine can accelerate to, but slow the car down in the event that it exceeds that speed.

   

I think it's because corporations want to make money, regardless of the law. If people will pay more for cars that can go faster, than it's just to bad that those cars can kill people.

   

Quite right but Canada only buys 3% of the total vehicles produced in North America so special design consideration would be way down the list for such a small market which would only increase the price.

   

I got my minitruck up to 120 once. Took a tailwind and about six miles of straight level stretch to get there though.
HAd a gf with a Saab turbo. You had to use the cruise control, because otherwise it would be just nice and comfortable but when you saw the speedo it was at 145 kmh.....

   

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