Tuesday, April 05, 2005

TheStar.com - T.O. set for a power surge

Mayor Miller and his minions are working with the Province to create a new 'City of Toronto' act - a classic example of the inmates running the asylum.

TheStar.com - T.O. set for a power surge

None can be certain what will come of this. Speculation is that the City will be allowed to decide more matters on its own - without oversight from provincial mandarins. Today, as an example, the city must have provincial permission before installing speed bumps.

Well - I'm all for removing useless bureaucratic steps. However, it hardly seems that the current act has in any way constrained the City's ability to install speed bumps and speed humps. We must have the highest density of these traffic calming devices anywhere. These humps and bumps have rather perverse effects:

1. The bad/aggressive drivers speed up to get extra elevation going over them
2. Pizza delivery drivers do a high speed swerve to the side of the road so that at least one axle stays on the level. This scares the heck out of pedestrians - and is not to mention very dangerous.
3. Responsible drivers - the ones who were already obeying the speed limits - drive even more slowly.
4. Emergency response is delayed - and who knows what damage these humps are doing to our fire engines.

However, since the province rubber stumps the installation of these humps - it might as well not be involved.

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