Woman Charged For Driving Way Too Slowly On North America's Busiest Motorway
It’s not often that you hear about people getting pulled over for driving under the speed limit. But it’s a safety hazard that the police in Canada don’t take lightly, especially when it occurs on Ontario Highway 401 - the busiest motorway in North America.
On Wednesday evening, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) received calls from angry motorists about a car driving at a snail’s pace on Highway 401, southwest of the Canadian capital city of Ottawa. With the slow-moving vehicle’s high beams burning into the eyes of surrounding traffic, the OPP attempted to pull the sluggish motorist over. Apparently, that didn’t work.
“After some precarious attempts, officers had to make a tandem stop with a cruiser in the front and rear of the vehicle to safely assist movement off the highway,” the OPP stated in a media release on Thursday.
The driver, a 47-year-old woman from the Ottawa area, was clocked doing 40kmh (25mph) in the outside lane. Apparently, she thought the speed limit on the 401 was 50kmh (32mph). She couldn’t have been more wrong - it’s actually 100kmh (62mph).
The OPP ticketed the slow-moving motorist for failing to obey road signs, failure to provide proof of insurance and, of course, driving at an excessively slow speed.
Source: CBC
Comments
Wow I live near the 401 in Canada and the traffic is rarely good.
Ya, I hated driving back home when I worked downtown. The struggle was real.
Yeah, I literally live about 3 minutes from the 401
Honestly I think that’s a great thing
People like to say that speeding is the biggest danger on the road, but they don’t realize that driving too slow is just as bad
It’s the mix of people driving too slow and people driving too fast that causes accidents
True that
“speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary, thats what gets you.”-Jeremy Clarkson
It’s worse if the slow driver is in the left or middle lane
A discrepancy in speed. Like you said, that’s one of the biggest issues
Hang here for crimes against humanity!!!
*her
i live in Toronto and at some points your lucky if your going 40kph in the constant traffic around here. rush hour goes from 7am-10am in the morning and 230pm-630pm in the evening. thats why i want to move out of the crampt and expensive city so i can have a house with a big garage/driveway.
She was probably trying to be safe. And yells at everyone who is not a snail
People still dont seem to realise (even in here) that the average speed of each car, is safe when it goes accordingly to its revs, engine power, and build…
You cant expect a car that its engine tops at 6.000rpm with a maximum of 80bhp to be driven safely when you use over 50% of its engine power.
A Toyota Aygo at 1000cc cant be driven safely with 100khm/h when it has to push itself to actually reach that speed…
Let me make it clear… If you need 16 seconds to reach 100khm/h maybe its not safe to drive with that as an average.
It has nothing to do with speed, but with manufacturing specs.
Its stupid to think that a Lambo has the same safe breaking distance with an average daily car of 1.400cc.
Nor is it safe to drive the second car with the average speed you feel comfortable in a Ferrari or a Porsche.
I dont care if you think you are a freaking pilot, better drivers than you died at lower speeds that those you will be reaching when crashing. Use speed limits as an advisor, especially when it comes to bumpy roads and corners, but dont think thats the rules of driving or something….
Speed limits that were created when average cars could hardly reach 120khm/h is just an idiot proof system that seems to work.
Its not bulletproof tho’, take it to the court with evidence and specs and you might catch a break and they will erase your ticket if it ever comes to that.
Just drive safe and dont be an idiot, and you’ll be alright..
My Aygo 1.4TD can cruise on the highway at speeds of 100-110 km/h with no power problems, even tho it’s slower than the petrol one
While that may be true, i must point out that that’s unlikely to be the case here because cars with smaller, less powerful engines like the entry level models in Europe and uncommon in Canada. You’d be hard-pressed to find an economy car with <2.0L here before 2015.
The thing is, people who drive on the highways here don’t buy these cars. The only people who own these cars have them for city use and have another car for highway driving.
As a frequent driver on the 401, its not an uncommon sight, though not 50 under. I usually see people driving between 70-80 at times when traffic is moving at 120+ km/h
Ikr the slow traffic pissed me off i moved to pickering. But back here again when housing got super expensive and it was a now or never situatjon ….
If you haven’t actually driven this highway, the article doesn’t do justice to just how deadly this is. Traffic on the 401, especially around Kingston, flows over 130km in some places
at the same time, im reading this from Greece, where even in heavily populated city areas there are drivers going down the street with over 150khm/h… cause there is no police anymore for the last years
The cancer of drivers. High beams on too when there is no need
So this is why the 401 is such a headache to drive on. People like these are why using the 407 costs more now, and even that road is getting busier.