Legalities | GTAMotorcycle.com

Legalities

Metastable

Well-known member
So I was thinking about a couple of different situations, that IMO are probably "Legal", but should they be? Or has someone maybe not dug in a little deeper to see if indeed it would be illegal for things to be done the way they are currently.

First:
Getting Penalized for a traffic infraction, other than by the government.
- So I understand the insurance industry works on a "risk" basis and they believe if you get a ticket you are more at risk than another driver. Is this fair? I wouldn't mind if I just had to pay the fine.... not that I like to pay the fine, but you get my drift. I don't like having the unknown of whatever up-charge that can be given to us by the insurance company. It's very arbitrary. It's like they come up with some random number. It doesn't matter how you cut it, you are being penalized by a private entity. I think this is wrong. Can you imagine if your condo fees were higher because you were considered more of a risk factor to be living there? You were more of a risk because you had a speeding ticket... maybe they would associate that with risky living activities.

Second:
- What is the procedure in Ontario for changing/introducing a speed limit, or new signage (i.e. don't turn left) etc? Who makes the call on what it should be and what are their credentials? It often seems speed limits are lowered arbitrarily, with the A$$umption that it would make things safer. However, assuming such things doesn't show that it will be safer, and may very well do the opposite.

Example - Take 6th Line from (east side of Milton). South of Britania it is 50kph. Seriously? 50 is the limit on a road where it is rare you find anyone doing under 80kph, because that is the reasonable and expected speed for that kind of road. However, once in a blue moon you get someone doing 50 = a line up of impatient drivers trying to get around said individual. Do they take into account an engineering study as to what is the "SAFEST" speed for a given section of road? OR Do they just say... oh the residents complained about cars doing 200, so we will lower it to 50? Yet on some subdivisions which are full of cars, kids playing, moms pushing strollers, sidewalks blocked with new development and poor visibility the speed limit is 50. Go figure.
 
Most (all?) speed limits are set by town council passing bylaws. AFAIK there does not need to be a reason, the speed limits can be arbitrary (within reason). They can use information such as traffic studies, predicted traffic volumes, etc. but I do not think they are required too.

I agree that some roads have seemingly strange speed limits, but it would be a damn hard argument to try to win based on this (assuming the speed limit is between 40 and 80 km/h, if the speed was much higher or lower, you may have a chance as the limit would be outside the normal limits of secondary roads).
 
So the Town Council, people who may or may not have any education with regards to determining the safest speed, can just pick a speed? Is that really the case? If that is true, don't you guys think that is completely insane?

I'm not wanting to fight a ticket based on inappropriate road speed designation, I'm just curious how/who determines what it should be....and why.
 
I'll tell you this much.. In Ontario where I face the wrath of the insurance industry, I still routinely do 20-30 over on most roads. In jurisdictions where I can just slip the cop 20-50 Euros or pay similar fines without any penalties to my insurance rating, I still drive at or below the speed limits because their speed limits are reasonable. I still remember a similar situation.. Country road, no traffic, no foot traffic and the limit was 60.. However it had curves and overhanging branches, so the visibility was limited and when I looked at the speedo, I was shocked to see I was doing the limit.. Then I reminded myself, "FiReSTaRT/Dorothy, you're not in Ontario/Kansas any more" :cool:
 

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