Trucks on the 401

The picture is not actually the 401, it is a truck convoy. But to most Ontarians, it looks just like an ordinary week day on the 401.

Many motorcyclists have a problem driving on the freeways, like our 401. They claim it's boring and dangerous. Well I don't have too much of a problem with it, in fact I think a lot of our back roads are boring too, and even more dangerous. That's why I sometimes end up going somewhere by motorcycle and taking the 401. Even though it has more than its share of trucks.

The last time I was on the 401 by motorcycle, last Friday actually, there was a new law in effect in Ontario that all the trucks had to have electronic speed limiters set to 105 kph max. I know some of the truckers don't like this, but I think it is working. Even when I'm driving my car, I try to avoid being next to a truck, or right behind one. But when the trucks are travelling at different speeds, that's impossible. If they are all going about 105, you can find a bit of road without trucks, even on the 401, and stay there for a while.

Going down hills, you don't have the trucks speeding up and getting on your tail. That's good for my mother who never could understand that phenomena while she was driving her normal speed (100).

And keeping the trucks to under 105 will help maintain the roadway longer - it was never designed for the high speeds of some of those heavily loaded trucks, and now with so many trucks out there it deteriorating faster than it needs to.

I don't want to accuse any of the truckers of bad driving, I think most are pretty good, but yes, I have been passed by an oversized load once that seemed to be doing about 120 kph. The reason I'm not criticizing truckers is that I have never seen one reading a book while driving. I've seen many car drivers reading, and not just while driving cautiously, but while aggressively speeding.