Information regarding topics that don't fit in established categories.
Have you ever stopped to consider the risk involved in handing your keys over to someone else? As the registered owner of a vehicle, you have significant responsibility for it when someone else is using it. Even if you were not present, something nasty can still come back and bite you.
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Carpooling makes sense, no doubt about it. It cuts down on emissions, saves commuting costs, reduces congestion on our highways and helps us feel good for being part of the solution rather than part of the problem. For the most part, as far as the laws are concerned, true carpooling is relatively unregulated too.
Question: I 
have seen several cases of helpful citizens pulling cars out of the ditch with ropes and chains. Often times this obstructs other vehicle traffic, sometimes in both directions. Last night in the dark several vehicles had close calls with 'helpers' out on the road in the dark.
Twenty years of traffic law enforcement experience has (mis)shaped what I find entertaining, so every Thursday I find myself reading the beefs in the Nanaimo News Bulletin's Beefs and Bouquets feature. There is almost always at least one beef about the way someone has used or misused the road over the past week.
A teen stepped off of the sidewalk as I approached, hopped onto his skateboard and began to weave slightly along the curb in front of my vehicle. He either trusted me with his life or had not given much thought to his own as he was far enough into the lane to be a hazard and had his back to overtaking traffic. I had to slow and crowd the centre lane to get by.
We've had some interesting weather in southwestern British Columbia over the last few days! It's included some less than ideal driving conditions due to ice, snow and rain, often in combination. A common bit of advice heard in the media is "if you don't have to travel, stay home!" Does anyone heed this advice?
I have been asked two questions about personal security that are vehicle related lately. One concerns blocking your vehicle identification number or VIN plate so that it cannot be read by anyone and the other is carrying a photocopy of your vehicle licence and insurance document with the address on it removed.
Question: I had a clean driving record until last week when I received my first ticket in 41 years of driving. I had recently started driving taxi part time and at the end of a 9 hour shift I dropped the taxi off and got into my own car. Five minutes later I went through a school zone without slowing down, having missed the school zone sign.
BEEF To the city for all the bollards everywhere making sure we drive ‘in the lines.’ How is it that these make our streets safer? Would this not delay an emergency vehicle?