Night traffic on a busy city highway 401 in TorontoGetty Jeff Yurek, Ontario’s Transportation minister, has signalled that it is time for this Conservative government to revisit the posted speed limits on Ontario’s provincial highways. Currently set at 100 km/h, he points to their establishment back in the 1970s as an answer to that era’s fuel crisis, and that higher limits might now be in order. For a brief period of time in the late 1960s, the speed limit on the “super highways” like the 401 was raised to 115 km/h (70 mph) from 100 km/h (60 mph). Yurek says the government will consult with police and the public before moving forward with what he calls a pilot project. Police are remaining tight lipped about the politics; they know their job is to enforce the law, not make it. British Columbia raised speed limits to 120 km/hr on 1,500 kilometres of their highway system, including the famed Coquihalla, in 2014. Fatalities more than doubled, insurance claims skyrocketed 43 per cent and there was a 30 per cent rise in claims for injuries. Late last year, a third of the roadways had their original limit
Origin: Ontario’s transportation minister wants to raise the speed limits on 400-series highways