Observations of average speeds of vehicles travelling along Highway 401 have been updated as a result of further analysis of the videotape obtained from four sites. It can be recalled from previous postings that Gorski Consulting has conducted videotaped observations of traffic at four sites along Highway 401 as shown in the figure below.
Location of testing sites along Highway 401 where traffic observations were made.
Analysis of the second testing at the Westminster Drive site on December 2, 2018 has just been completed resulting in the updated results shown below.
It is interesting how the presence of heavy trucks in the median lane would appear to reduce the average speed of all vehicles in that lane. That should not be surprising as truck speeds are limited to 105 km/h. From a safety perspective the issue is how the lowering of average speed in this manner can provide a safer environment when this creates more conflicts between vehicles travelling at substantially different speeds.
It is not our purpose to engage in this discussion at this time. The purpose of presenting this data is to provide some broad indicators of the content of the videotapes. Additional data will be reported in the near future. Once some of these broad indicators are presented it is hoped that more detailed studies of the content will be presented and discussed.
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