by Cst. Jeff Leimer #3503, Calgary Police Service, CPS, Traffic Section, Residential Traffic Safety Unit, RTSU
April is Speed Awareness and Enforcement Month. Fines start at 1 km/h over the speed limit at $81 and go up to 50 km/h at $495. Demerit points are assessed to speed fines starting at 2 demerits and increase as speed increases.
Speed fines double if one is charged for speeding in a construction zone or passing emergency vehicles or tow trucks. If speeds are in excess of 50 km/h over the speed limit, the ticket will be for mandatory court in which the courts will set the fine and license suspension timeline.
Starting March 1, 2023, a change to the Traffic Safety Act (TSA) occurred, being that all lanes of travel must slow to 60 km/h when passing emergency vehicles when traveling in the same direction. This is a change in that currently it is only the lane adjacent or one lane beside the emergency vehicle that must slow. You wouldn’t want an emergency vehicle ripping past you in your office, would you?
In relation to speed, the distance your vehicle travels increases considerably for reaction time and braking distance if an emergency arises. Consider the following which is based on an average vehicle in good repair driving on a dry road in good condition at 50 km/h.
• Average perception and reaction time is 1.5 seconds (brain to see danger and then reaction time to step on brakes). This can vary depending on driving experience.
• Vehicle travels approximately 18 m/sec at 50 km/h.
• Vehicle from start of braking to complete stop takes approximately 25 metres.
• So, it will be approximately 60 metres of travel distance (half a football field).
• At 100 km/h, you can quadruple that distance, so approximately 200 metres (two football fields) to stop.
So, something to remember is that this is for ideal road conditions; wet and snowy conditions will extend this considerably.
