Anyone who's driven in Canadialand knows that our neighbors to the north like their speed. Gentle and kind in so many ways, yes; but bats out of hell on the road. Come Jan. 1, though, an interesting new law will change that. For truckers in Quebec and Ontario, anyway. Starting this year, all heavy commercial trucks driving in those provinces will be outfitted with little doodads that actually restrict the speed at which trucks can drive. Maxing out at 105 kilometers an hour (that's 65 mph to you), trucks will save close to 150 million litres of diesel annually. This translates to 410,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year in two provinces alone--the equivalent of taking a couple thousand trucks off the road entirely.
Of course, truckers are pissed. They're protesting not just in Canada but in the U.S. as well, calling this an effort to keep trucks out of Canada. So is this another point for team Canada, leading the way in environmental and transportation law? We'll see.
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