The EU Love Seals And Poor Road Planning Worst Than Speeding

Letters to the editor and comments.

We'll fight the EU ban, Ottawa promises

It seems apparent that many opponents of the annual seal hunt have never visited an abattoir.

They have never seen how their baby-back ribs, tender lamb chops, and veal escalopes are produced.

In fact, baby seals have a lot in common with little porkers, lambs, and calves: They are all cute and cuddly, and they are all butchered in much the same way.

H.P.

The EU has its share of hypocrisy and we should fight them but don't expect to win. The EU is powerful and willing to flex its soft power muscles. But speaking of the EU as one monolithic block is misleading. The EU remains a contradictory work in progress onto itself. Regardless, Canada should stand its ground on this one.

That being said, I applaud Canada's efforts to step up trade with Europe. It's been a long-time coming and can help to reduce our reliance on the United States.

The science of setting speed limits

"The scientific way to set speed limits safely is to choose the median speed driven by 85 per cent of the cars on a particular stretch of road. Unfortunately this mechanism is not used in Quebec.

Setting limits too low (or too high) causes the accident rate to go up, largely because non-optimal speed limits increase stress levels. So when (for example) a borough unilaterally lowers the limits within its borders to below what is optimum, drivers become impatient. The result is often a statistical increase in speeding and in the overall accident (and violation) rate.

This was shown a number of years ago when the state of Montana did away with specific speed limits and instead enforced "reasonable limits based on conditions." Rather than the carnage that was predicted, fatalities dropped average speeds pretty much stayed within five mph of what they had been.

Unfortunately, Montana's "do gooders" managed to get speed limits reimposed after 31/2 years. Not surprisingly, accident rates went right back to where they were before the change.

I'm not suggesting we eliminate speed limits altogether, but that we use proper scientific techniques to set limits, so that we are not stressed by having to drive at artificially low speeds. Speed-limit setting in most jurisdictions often seems to be more about brining in revenue from speeding tickets than it is about safety."

B.F.

Absolutely. The Montana (the mid-west has strong libertarian leanings) experiment had restored my faith in our ability to rely on ourselves and it's a shame they stopped the project.

The speed limits as set up here make no sense and it boggles my mind how I don't see more accidents. For example, the speed limit on the service road (between autoroute 15 and 13) of the Trans-Canada (highway 40) is 50 km/h. I stay within the limit because the cops are out in force in this area but I must confess there's nothing more stressful.

Here's why: The road planning is an urban abomination. You literally have exits and ramps positioned on the same path. For example, say you're coming off a boulevard you have to merge onto the service road and then dart to catch the exit to get onto the Trans-Canada. Meanwhile, people coming off the TC have to dart to get make their own exit. It makes a kind of "X" effect. Caught in between are those maintaining a speed of 50km who are, of course, tailgated by vans, trucks and impatient cars and constantly hitting the breaks.

It's a form of kamikaze mission. I don't know how I haven't been hit on my front and back bumper yet.

50km/h on the TC service road is not only absurd but poses real risks to drivers.

And don't get me going with Transport Quebec.