Updated: Wed Oct. 08 2008 18:46:07

ctvcalgary.ca

In just a few hours last weekend, police handed out more than 130 tickets to speeders on Deerfoot Trail. What police say is even more shocking, is how fast some motorists were going.

Officers say Deerfoot Trail is becoming more of a racetrack than a freeway these days, and many people who regularly drive on the Deerfoot agree.

Dave Allan has been in the courier business for 20 years. He says he doesn't like driving on Deerfoot Trail anymore.

"I was driving the speed limit and buses were passing me, all types of cars passing me, everybody was speeding, it's terrible."

Deerfoot Trail is a high priority these days for officers with the Calgary Police Service's Traffic Unit. The CPS just released results of a speeding crackdown conducted last Saturday. 135 motorists were ticketed over a five hour period, but police say they could have handed out double the number of tickets if they had more officers on the road that day.

Of those 135 tickets, 103 were for speeding. The speed limit on Deerfoot Trail is 100 kilometres an hour. Sgt. Mark Ehrmantraut says he couldn't believe his radar when he clocked one driver going 201 kilometres an hour.

"We were expecting high speeds, but not over 200 kilometres an hour. What was shocking was the regularity of speeders. The average speed for tickets we wrote was 132 kilometres an hour."

The fine for the driver caught going 201 kilometres an hour, or double the posted limit, will be set by a judge. A driver caught going that fast outside city limits earlier this year was fined $10-thousand.

Police say to expect more Deerfoot Trail crackdowns in the near future.

Bernard Romanycia
Cowgarians are in a hurry to go nowhere.

Marshall Mathers
The state of Montana once had no speed limits on its highways, after posting a speed limit they saw fatalities actually increase. They found that people were more safety conscious and courteous when there wasn't a posted speed limit. That's what it comes down to safety and courtesy, something some people just don't have [i.e. playing games like getting into the left lane and going slow]. Education and enforcement of courtesy could go a long way.

Funny that this article doesn't even mention the word "safety".

Paul Chapman
I think what is really needed on Deerfoot is lane control and for drivers to be more observant on what is going on around them and not just sit in the faster lane and go slow as this just causes more erratic driving behaviour… and in a way will make people drive faster as they are getting annoyed with the person holding up the overtaking lane…

Shane - Calgary
Curious as to how many tickets were handed out to people driving well below the speed limit or people who dont understand what "Merge" means.

Darlene
NO longer a Deerfoot traveller

People are NUTZ and there is NO way around that. Thumbs up to the CPS for catching the ones that they did. 

What is so hard to understand ? 100 kms. means 100 kilometers per hour, it's on your dashboard people, that was one of the requirements BEFORE you got that little card that says you can drive now without mommy in the car with you.

Dee Coggins
Education is only one part of the solution, there has to be nforcement for those people who seem to think that the rules are for everyone else.

Automatic speed cameras are an economical and effective way of identifying and prosecuting those people who seem to think that their time is more valuable than everyone else's. In the United Kingdom, police forces and municiplaities make tens of millions of dollars from traffic enforcement cameras. Instead of bleating to the Premier like one of the many panhandlers that we have in Calgary, or giving us another double-digit tax raise, Mayor Bronconnier should be looking into enforcement cameras as a way of funding non-essential city services. 

Inevitably, there will be a voiciferous lobby who start crying about traffic cameras not being a sportsman-like way of enforcing the law. Before they wheel out this well-worn argument, perhaps they'd like to explain how a car hitting someone at 200km/h is in any way a fair and sporting contest.