Traffic safety remains a critical public health and economic challenge across British Columbia. The rolling model below provides a live, data-driven projection of cumulative road safety outcomes and transport incidents across the province since January 1, 2026:
I never know what I am going to receive in my e-mail regarding this column. A while ago, I received a tongue-in-cheek request to settle a disagreement between a husband and wife about U-turns. Neither of them realized that there are actually very few places in British Columbia where a driver can legally make one.
Question: Is there a section in the Motor Vehicle Act that states that, in the absence of speed signage on a highway, a driver must use common sense to judge what a safe speed would be?
A common question from drivers who receive a speeding ticket is whether police must use radar or laser to prove that they were speeding. A British Columbia appeal decision shows that radar or laser is not always required. Under the right circumstances, a court may accept a police officer’s visual estimate of speed as evidence. Under the right circumstances, a court may accept a police officer’s visual estimate of speed as evidence.
The intersection of Bertram Street and Bernard Avenue in Kelowna raises an interesting question: if one crosswalk has a pedestrian signal, does that signal control every crosswalk at the intersection? The answer is no. A pedestrian signal only controls the crossing for which it is installed.
Cognitive testing of older drivers is one of the questions I am asked most often by drivers and their families. Many people believe that reaching age 80 automatically means taking a memory test or losing their driver's licence. In British Columbia, drivers must complete a Driver's Medical Examination beginning at age 80, but cognitive testing is only one part of the medical assessment when it is considered appropriate.
Have you witnessed dangerous, aggressive or careless driving and wondered whether reporting it to police would accomplish anything? The answer is yes, but the success of your complaint depends largely on the information you can provide and how involved you are willing to become in the investigation.
Knowing which way to turn your wheels when parking on a hill is a driving skill that many people learn for their road test and then rarely think about again. Turning your wheels the wrong way can allow a vehicle to roll into traffic if the parking brake isn't applied properly or a mechanical failure occurs. Fortunately, there are only three simple rules to remember when parking on a hill in British Columbia.
A discussion in a local community group recently caught my attention because it illustrated how easily unsafe driving behaviour can become normalized. A resident described a young rider leaving a community centre parking lot on an unlicensed dirt bike, travelling along a public road, performing wheelies at high speed, and then disappearing onto a logging road.
Have you ever wondered why parking lots seem to force drivers and pedestrians into the same space? At many shopping centres, every customer must walk across the path of moving vehicles to reach the entrance, even though this appears to create unnecessary conflict.