During the morning of Mon., March 4, there was a severe car accident just outside of Chesterville that included multiple vehicles, and ended with a woman being air-lifted to the hospital. Speeding in North Dundas is not a new problem. It has been an issue for many years and it shows with the constant stream of collisions that take place year after year.

For some reason, because we are out in the country and don’t have the restraints of multiple lanes, city blocks and traffic lights, we believe we can zoom down the road at 120 km/h with little consequence, however, the exact opposite is being shown.

There could be plenty of reasons that you might be travelling 20 km/h over the speed limit, including road rage, or running behind on time but both of these can actually get you to your destination slower. People who drive with road rage often express anger and frustration because they’re going one speed but the person in front of them is going a significantly slower speed.

So, they resort to tail-gating that person; tail-gating someone may not make them go faster but in many cases, it’ll actually cause them to slow down; this is because they are usually so worried about what the car behind them is doing so close to their backend that they can sometimes miss important information in front of them like a curve in the road or a stop sign.

This could also lead the driver of the car that is being tail-gated getting road rage themselves which could lead to a “brake check” to get the person to back off; this can also lead to an accident. Also, the idea that speeding will get you to your destination faster is a complete misconception. Research has shown that driving at an appropriate speed will only result in a very small difference in travel time. In a study on a 10 km length road, it showed that simply reducing your speed from 100 km/h to 80 km/h decreased the travel time by only 30-48 seconds, which doesn’t really seem worth it.

So, do everyone a favour and slow down the next time you’re travelling through North Dundas; or better yet, travelling anywhere in general because not only are you risking your safety but everyone else’s too.

Kory Glover