A new AAA Foundation study has confirmed something motorists have known since approximately five minutes after the invention of the speedometer: almost everybody speeds. Only 21% of drivers surveyed identified as non-speeders. Another 34% rarely speed, while 30% sometimes speed and 15% do it frequently. In other words, 79% of drivers admit to exceeding the speed limit at least occasionally. And apparently they aren’t all auditioning for The Fast and the Furious.
Asked why they speed, 31% said it was to get around slower drivers, 25% wanted to reach their destination faster and 21% didn’t want to hold up traffic. Another 19% essentially shrugged and said, that’s just how I normally drive. Only 9% of respondents were truly honest gearheads who said they enjoyed the feeling of driving fast, while a mere 4% said it was fun to bend the rules.
Perhaps most tellingly, 17% said they speed because the limit itself is set too low—hey, welcome to Ontario! Premier Doug Ford has decided that some more 400-series highways can handle 110 km/h, which sounds like good news for motorists. Except there’s a catch. Under Ontario’s stunt-driving rules, 150 km/h remains the magic number where ordinary speeding suddenly becomes a roadside catastrophe, thanks to the MOMS Act.
On a 100 km/h highway, the speed demon formerly received a generous 49 km/h of illicit headroom before entering stunt-driving territory. Now, on a 110 km/h highway, that same driver gets only 39 km/h. What a ripoff! Look at the value proposition. At 149 km/h in a 100 zone, you were getting 49 km/h of forbidden velocity for your ticket risk. Raise the limit to 110, and suddenly you’re paying for only 39 km/h worth of rebellion. That’s roughly a 20% reduction in hooligan value per km.
Hit 150 km/h and the government brings out the sledgehammer: a 30-day licence suspension, 14-day vehicle impoundment, thousands in fines and potentially much worse after conviction.
Ontario gave motorists another 10 km/h, which discreetly moved the stunt-driving line 10 km/h closer.
Somewhere, a street racer is demanding a refund.