Slowing It Down

The one thing we seem to all agree on is that life is too short and we're all living our lives at too fast a pace.  Stopping and smelling the roses has come down to sniffing the air as we whiz by not sure if they're roses we're smelling or not.  This fast paced lifestyle has lead to poor nutrition decision, i.e. fast food way too often, as well as some poor habits we've developed when it comes to driving.  Speed limits are regularly ignored as we try to get where we're going just a little faster because we just don't have the time to waste.  The problem becomes that when everyone regularly travels at ten or twenty kilometers an hour over the speed limit, we as a society start to show a lack of respect for the law.  Quickly ten or twenty over slips to thirty over or forty over or more.  Speed limits have become more like guidelines, a suggested top speed, and not one that we feel we have to take seriously.  That becomes an even bigger problem when a select few in our society really blow the doors off the thing.  There was an interesting story this week out of Hamilton where a 31 year old woman in a Ford Explorer was caught traveling at 130 kilometers an hour in a 50 kilometer an hour zone in the city.  That is 80 kilometers an hour over the posted limit.  Across the country there have been other examples just as bad but this story goes a step further.  This was the second time in a month that this woman was caught going more than 50 kilometers an hour over the limit.  The first time she lost her license for a week and had her car impounded.  After paying the fines and fees, within two weeks she was again traveling at an idiotic rate of speed down a city street.  This is the moment when our laws need to change to embrace this act for what it is, wanton ignorance for the safety of her society.  This isn't a speeding infraction anymore, this is a criminal act.  If this same woman had been caught shooting a missile down a city street people would be outraged and she'd be off to prison for ten years.  Yet, that's precisely what she did.  Her Ford Explorer traveling at 130 kilometers an hour is a 3,000 pound missile.  She can't control it if something suddenly happened.  She fired a missile down a city street and needs to be punished for doing it.  Ultimately there are two things we can do and we will eliminate this problem once and for all.  Right off the top we need to move to limiters that will not allow any vehicle to travel above the highest posted speed limit in the land.  Why have a vehicle that can even go 130 kilometers an hour if there is not a single road in the province where you can drive it that fast.  The second thing we need to do is bring in aggressive, draconian punishments for people caught excessively speeding.  We can't rely on excessive insurance premiums to drive these people off the roads because some people are rich enough that they can afford to keep doing it.  Stripping offenders of their license, their vehicle and even bringing in prison time are not a problem for me.  I will never be caught going that fast, I would never consider it safe for me to go that fast never mind the safety of the residents of the community.  Horrific accidents will continue to be a part of our every day lives until we meet speeders head on with harsh and painful punishments.  Innocent people will continue to lose their lives in collisions with people who are reckless.  You can't discharge a gun within the city limits, so why on Earth are people getting away with unleashing a missile down the street?!?!?! Until We Type Again, Take It Ease !