David Cram was driving eastbound on Water Street in Kelowna, B.C. At the intersection with Clement Avenue, the vehicle in front of him stopped, signalling for a left turn. Mr. Cram slowed and after passing the sidewalk curb bulge passed by the stopped vehicle on the right hand side. The roadway at this point is marked for one lane of travel but is wide enough for two vehicles to use. Cst. Paetz was following Mr. Cram in a marked police vehicle and stopped him, issuing a traffic ticket for illegally passing on the right. A judicial justice convicted Mr. Cram of the offence after a trial.
This case examines a collision between a cyclist, Kyle Ilett, and a driver, Leah Buckley, at the intersection of Admirals Road and Seenupin Road in Esquimalt, B.C. Mr. Ilett was riding northbound on the shoulder of Admirals Road nearing Seenupin Road. The shoulder was marked by a single solid white line on both sides of the road. Ms. Buckley was driving her car southbound and turned left onto Seenupin Road when an oncoming driver in slow traffic stopped to allow her to make the turn. Mr. Ilett proceeded through the intersection and collided with the passenger side of Ms. Buckley's car.
The matter at trial is the liability for a serious collision that took place on the Coquihalla Highway in an area known as Larson Hill on August 11, 2011. A pickup truck and camper driven by Mildred Eileen Boizard was travelling southbound in the rightmost of 3 southbound lanes at a speed of between 80 and 85 km/h in the posted 110 km/h speed zone. She overtook two tractor-trailer units, one in her lane and one in the center lane. Mrs. Boizard decided to pass and carefully changed to the leftmost lane and remained at her travel speed even though the truck she was driving was capable of a faster speed in the circumstances.
The topic of choice in the DriveSmartBC e-mail box this past week has been about drivers who pass you in the left lane of a multiple lane highway and then immediately change lanes back in front of you. This action leaves less (sometimes much less) than optimum following distance between you and the driver who passed you. It's as if once passed, you are completely forgotten by the other driver.
This case arises from a collision at the intersection of West 7th Avenue and Pine Street in Vancouver, B.C. A motorcycle driven by Rizwan Ali had stopped at the stop sign on 7th anticipating a left turn onto Pine. Shirley Fineblit was following behind Mr. Ali and decided to pass by him on the left because he had been driving his motorcycle slowly and she thought he was turning right. Mr. Ali turned left and collided with Ms. Fineblit as she passed by.
Deliberately bad drivers seem to be appearing more and more often on our highways. If e-mail to the DriveSmartBC web site is any indication, other drivers are no longer shrugging it off and report offenders in the hope that they will be held accountable. Some, including myself, have taken to posting photos or video of selfish, inconsiderate or dangerous drivers in that hope that public shaming might improve that driver's behaviour.
I would be interested your opinion about moving up on the right hand side at intersections when traffic is stopped. I ask not because I do this, but because it was a question on a cycling Q & A site (with explicit mention of BC).
Peter Link was driving to White Rock from Richmond on an evening with 2 to 3 inches of new snow. On highway 99 between the highway 10 and highway 91 exits he was passed by an unidentified SUV. The SUV moved into Link's lane after passing at such a short distance that his windshield was completely covered by snow thrown up by the SUV's wheels making it impossible to see. Mr. Link braked, spun out of control and collided with the cable barrier in the center median. This court case determined that the SUV driver was negligent and responsible for the collision, not Mr. Link.
Richard Kaiser was ticketed for failing to slow while passing a police car while that car’s emergency lights were activated. He disputed that ticket on two grounds, the regulation offended the Charter by being too vague and that the officer was merely making notes concerning a previous violator at the time and so had entrapped Mr. Kaiser. Judge Takahashi convicted Mr. Kaiser.
Deliberately bad drivers seem to be appearing more and more often on our highways. If e-mail to the DriveSmartBC web site is any indication, other drivers are no longer shrugging it off and report offenders in the hope that they will be held accountable. Some, including myself, have taken to posting photos or video of selfish, inconsiderate or dangerous drivers in that hope that public shaming might improve that driver's behaviour.
I would be interested your opinion about moving up on the right hand side at intersections when traffic is stopped. I ask not because I do this, but because it was a question on a cycling Q & A site (with explicit mention of BC).
The driver of this car may not have noticed the flashing right turn signal on the bus, but learned the hard way that it was worth paying attention to.