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VANCOUVER — Self-proclaimed “driver’s advocate” Ian Tootill hasn’t much time for “do-gooder, controlling types,” especially those who would have him take his foot off the gas and slow down. Their ranks include certain lawmakers and enforcement officers, and people who don’t drive yet think they should dictate to those who do.

Mr. Tootill drives with care and with gusto. He frequently speeds on our highways. He broke the law just two weeks ago, he admits, pushing his late-model Ford F150 up the Coquihalla highway, a four-lane strip in the B.C. interior, to speeds of 125 kilometres an hour.

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He broke the law, and so do a vast majority of Canadians, routinely and without consequence. For that reason alone, Mr. Tootill says, speed limits need to change. “Few people pay attention to posted speed limits,” he says, pointing to official, published data that back up his claim.

He’s long been pushing the need for more speed. And at last, his grassroots campaign to boost highway limits is gaining momentum. B.C.’s new transportation minister, Todd Stone, has just called for a review of highway speeds. The last provincially commissioned study was in 2003; it recommended that speed limits on certain stretches of highways be increased by 10 kilometres — to a maximum of 120 kilometres per hour — on some stretches.