New blog, first post

Good morning, London!  Instead of "shouting into the darkness" of Twitter or Facebook, I have taken it upon myself to express opinions about the happenings and events in our great city via a blog, which will hopefully attract a good readership and interactive feedback along the way.

This may be cheating a bit, but as the first "post" I shall reprint a letter to the editor that I submitted to London Community News back in February of this year (not published in its entirety, but gets the point across).

Forget increasing highway speed: build high-speed rail instead

Dear editor,

This is a response to the letter to the editor entitled, Ontario highway speeds are lagging behind many countries, published on Jan. 31. 

While Mr. Peper has some interesting statistics about other countries, I do believe that the speed limits on our roadways (all of them, not just the 401) are there for a reason: safety. We need to ensure that roads are safe before all other considerations. 

If it takes you five fewer minutes to get from London to Toronto or Windsor because you’re doing 120 kph instead of 100 kph, what are you really gaining? Not to mention that for most small- and medium-size cars, the faster they drive over 80 kph, the lower their fuel efficiency.

If we truly want a fast, efficient, and safe mode of transport, reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles and instate a high-speed rail service from Windsor to Québec City. At 200 kph, you can be in downtown Toronto in an hour. How amazing would that be? No traffic to fight, no parking to find, and you can use that time to read a book or just relax.

Reviving rail service for passenger travel and moving freight should be the top priority when it comes to province-wide transportation.

Mike Bloxam

London

Until next time!

... Mike.